This ceremonial cloth or ‘tampan’ depicts a ship carrying ancestor or deity figures and creatures of various sizes. There is a mirror image of two large creatures in the center, believed to depict elephants. Beneath them, an ancestor or deity figure is housed in what most likely is an ancestral shrine. The smaller creatures carry ancestor or deity riders. It has been suggested that the image of mythical animals with ancestors or deities is a symbol of ancestor or deity transition when an individual moves to another social or spiritual state. This interpretation is not only consistent with the symbolism of ship imagery in Lampung textiles, but also explains the importance of such ceremonial cloths at rites of passage. Ceremonial cloths could be used as gifts, covers for ritual offerings or pillows for the deceased. It is normally woven using the supplementary weft technique, where additional horizontal threads create patterns over the top of the ground weave.
