In Focus

The following essay is from the 1989 publication American Furniture in the Bybee Collection, by Charles L. Venable.

This pua sungkit, dyed the deepest bur­gundy with images of deities bursting forth like flames of white fire devouring rotting corpses, is called Menyeti Lebur Api Mansau Tisi Dilah Kendawang, or “the Beautiful White Heat with Deep Red Edges like the Tongue of the Krait.” It is arguably one of the most sought-after Iban cloths in exist

This mawa' is curiously folded and stitched to form a double loop, shorter at the top and longer at the bottom, such that a central panel is displayed in the middle of the bottom portion.

This mawa' is executed in dark brown with a rose blush on handmade cotton fabric. Its central rondel depicts the goddess Indo' Samadenna (Mother All There Is) with her golden spinning wheel. Also known as the mythical lady of the moon, she is accompanied by a cockerel and surrounded by constellations.

Sarita are very long, narrow cloths, sometimes as much as twenty feet in length, in which multiple paired rectangluar panels are filled with motifs executed in either deep indigo blue or brown. These are typically interspersed with small stylized scenes of everyday life and human activities.

These cloths are a type of textile known as pua sungkit, a term that refers to their production technique, that of weft wrapping.

Known in the literature as kelambi sungkit, or sungkit jacket, this type of war vest is called baju kirai by the Saribas Iban.

The simple and bold conception of this mawa', painted in indigo on homespun cotton, results in an inspired work of art from the humblest of motifs—the tadpole (bulintong).

When an Iban weaver has distinguished herself by weaving animal forms, her next ambition is to weave the ultimate: spirit representations.