This carved house panel comes from a Minangkabau ancestral home or ‘rumah gadang’. It was probably arranged along the base of the outside walls of a house, above the stilts. The architectural panel could also have run along the top of the exterior wall below the gable, an element known as a ‘pereng’. In accordance with the matrilineal system the rumah gadang is owned by the women who live there. The rumah gadang is not merely a residence, it also serves as a hall for family councils and ceremonial activities.
