Skirt cloth

Collections
1395538
Title
Skirt cloth
Year/Period
First half of the 20th century
Region
South Sulawesi, Bugis Peoples
Object Type
Dimension
Object size: 92.5 x 114.5 cm
Accession No.
2018-00978
Credit Line
Gift of the City of Delft, Netherlands

This plain weave check sarong in red and white would have been worn by Bugis men. Such cloths relate closely to textiles that originated from India, particularly the port of Pulicat, which was an important transhipment point for textiles manufactured in Tamil Nadu during the height of the Dutch East India’s influence in the region. This historical fact survives in the popular name of such cloths in the Malay language, where they are known as kain pelekat, literally Pulicat cloths.