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Sumatra | Batak Ikat Shoulder-cloth (Bintang Maratur)
Indonesia, Sumatra, Toba Batak, Silindung Valley; mid 20th C
Commercial cotton, natural and commercial dyes, warp ikat, supplementary warp and weft weaving, twining
A single panel with an indigo centrefield of seven bands of very long white ikat pierced lozenges. The chevrons are piled up densely at each end, and show their delicate form in the middle bands. Lying over the ikat design and extending across the wine-red side panels are five bands of colourful supplementary bands in discrete and continuous abstract geometric motifs that resemble those in the end fields of the ulos pinunsaan. Worked in white, orange, two yellows and a little red, the supplementary weft designs are very detailed and varied, and give an exceptionally joyous atmosphere to the piece. Combined with the ikat, the overall design has a richly rhythmic flow of repetition and variation. Of particular note is the sparkling, pretty strip of twining at each end, very finely worked in a white meander on a red, yellow and blue dotted ground, which changes into a pattern of rhombs in the side panels. The fringes are finely twisted, and also ikatted at one end.
Context: The bintang maratur’s ritual status and popularity, its predominantly blue-black colour and numerous variations suggest that this type is among the oldest of Batak textiles. The ikat patterning is the characteristic feature of bintang maratur, which means “ordered stars, a reference to the regular arrangement of ikat in the body of the textile.” The modification, Na gok (‘full’), i.e. every warp yarn of the body is ikat patterned, characterizes versions of the highest quality. It is worn as a woman’s shoulder-cloth. In the ritual context, it is a gift from the wife-giving clan to the father of the child at its baptism; or from a woman’s parents to encourage fertility—its spiritual property is to ‘arrange (for) fertility’. (Niessen, Legacy in Cloth 312-16) Illust. Niessen 314, fig. Cat. 6.1.1b. The fineness of the twining is often a mark of a textile’s quality and age.
The textile is in excellent condition. There is edgewear at both selvedges, and one or two faint marks but overall it remains in very fresh condition. The colours are all vivid, lively and unfaded. Medium weight cotton.
Length: 171 plus 15 cm fringes at each end. Width: 74.5 cm.
Indonesia, Sumatra, Toba Batak, Silindung Valley; mid 20th C
Commercial cotton, natural and commercial dyes, warp ikat, supplementary warp and weft weaving, twining
A single panel with an indigo centrefield of seven bands of very long white ikat pierced lozenges. The chevrons are piled up densely at each end, and show their delicate form in the middle bands. Lying over the ikat design and extending across the wine-red side panels are five bands of colourful supplementary bands in discrete and continuous abstract geometric motifs that resemble those in the end fields of the ulos pinunsaan. Worked in white, orange, two yellows and a little red, the supplementary weft designs are very detailed and varied, and give an exceptionally joyous atmosphere to the piece. Combined with the ikat, the overall design has a richly rhythmic flow of repetition and variation. Of particular note is the sparkling, pretty strip of twining at each end, very finely worked in a white meander on a red, yellow and blue dotted ground, which changes into a pattern of rhombs in the side panels. The fringes are finely twisted, and also ikatted at one end.
Context: The bintang maratur’s ritual status and popularity, its predominantly blue-black colour and numerous variations suggest that this type is among the oldest of Batak textiles. The ikat patterning is the characteristic feature of bintang maratur, which means “ordered stars, a reference to the regular arrangement of ikat in the body of the textile.” The modification, Na gok (‘full’), i.e. every warp yarn of the body is ikat patterned, characterizes versions of the highest quality. It is worn as a woman’s shoulder-cloth. In the ritual context, it is a gift from the wife-giving clan to the father of the child at its baptism; or from a woman’s parents to encourage fertility—its spiritual property is to ‘arrange (for) fertility’. (Niessen, Legacy in Cloth 312-16) Illust. Niessen 314, fig. Cat. 6.1.1b. The fineness of the twining is often a mark of a textile’s quality and age.
The textile is in excellent condition. There is edgewear at both selvedges, and one or two faint marks but overall it remains in very fresh condition. The colours are all vivid, lively and unfaded. Medium weight cotton.
Length: 171 plus 15 cm fringes at each end. Width: 74.5 cm.
price:
USD 275