Tubular skirt, ceremonial male sarong, cotton and metal thread, Minangkabau/Sumatra/Indonesia, ca.1950. This is the third of three cloths from Sumatra which i am offering in this series. They are all featuring minimal designs like checks and stripes and few geometrical forms. The layout is organized as broad squares and the decoration is worked on the loom as supplementary weft. The first piece shown here is densely staffed with silver threads as supplementary weft which make the textile stiff and heavy. The textile consists of two panels which are meticulously joined by hand. The basic material is blue and red natural dye and handwoven cotton fabric. There are a few tiny holes from oxidation, some of them repaired and some rips along the top and bottom which have been stitched together, some dark patches show on the red middle stripe. Inspite of all these traces of use the condition is not bad and the care that has been taken to preserve it shows how precious the cloth must have been to its owner. Measurements: ca. 136 x (2x) 92 cm