Man's mantle

Title
Man's mantle
Year/Period
Mid-20th century
Region
Timor Island, East Nusa Tenggara, Eastern Indonesian Archipelago
Technique
Dimension
Object size: 239.0 x 145.5 cm
Accession No.
2018-00930
Credit Line
Gift of the City of Delft, Netherlands

This ceremonial blanket is reputed to have come from the Rajah of Kefamenanu in North Central West Timor. It is a finely woven warp ikat cloth with rows of aniline dyed yellow, green, pink and blue threads that would have been imported from Europe. This would have made this a valuable and prestigious cloth. These threads are interspersed between rows of finely tied warp ikat bands naturally dyed in indigo and red with an overdyed purplish deep blue.