Title
Laytu Chin apron
Year/Period
Mid 20th century
Region
Chin state, north-west Myanmar
Material
Technique
Dimension
Object size: 51.5 x 47 cm
Accession No.
2013-00511
Collection of
Credit Line
Gift of Laura Kan
This apron was woven and worn by a Laytu Chin woman. It was made with hand-spun and indigo-dyed cotton, and woven using a backstrap loom. The design comprises simple intersecting bands of supplementary weave in bright pink and green cotton. Many different sub-groups of the Chin community live across the hilly Chin state in the north-west region of Myanmar as well as across the border into Chittagong and other areas of north-east India. Their textile arts are a marker of their identity as a sub-group within the wider Chin community. Elaborate textiles also signal the owner's wealth and social standing within the village hierarchy.
