1983.69 Woman's ceremonial skirt (tapis)


GENERAL DESCRIPTION  
Graceful ancestral boats with curving bows and sterns are embroidered with silk threads on two bands of this tapis. Each vessel carries five frontal figures. The central figure on the right boat—with a mica disk for a head—sits beneath a decorated arch and is flanked by others wearing feathered headdresses.

Woman's ceremonial skirt (kain inu)

GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Many of Indonesia’s oldest artistic conventions were perpetuated by peoples living in the interior or more inaccessible areas of an island, as opposed to relatively more accessible coastal areas. This ceremonial heirloom skirt was created by women living in the remote mountainous highlands surrounding Lake Ranau.

Ceremonial mat (lampit)

GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Traditionally throughout the archipelago, well-made and often beautifully decorated mats (tikar) are unfurled to seat visitors, as well as laid out for use during communal functions.