Detail View: Museum and the Online Archive of California: Textile; sirat; loincloth fragment. Malaysia
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Collection:
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Museum and the Online Archive of California
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Creation Place:
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Borneo
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Creation Place:
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Iban?
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Creation Place:
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Malaysia
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Creation Place:
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Sarawak?
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Title:
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Textile; sirat; loincloth fragment. Malaysia
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Materials:
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handwoven
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Materials:
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supplementary weft
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Materials:
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"sungkit"
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Materials:
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cotton
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Dimensions:
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25.4 cm by 71.1 cm
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Current Location:
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Fowler Museum of Cultural History. University of California, Los Angeles.
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Address:
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Los Angeles, California 90095-1549
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Object ID:
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UCLA FMCH X81.1470
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Subject:
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- handwoven supplementary weft "sungkit" cotton
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Heading:
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Content/Description
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Notes:
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REMARKS COMPILED IN 1987 BY ROY HAMILTON ON BASIS OF EXISTING RECORDS, EXAMINATION OF OBJECT, AND REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE: From the original accession material: "Ceremonial loincloth; a very rare piece done in the songket technique; Iban, North Borneo [sic., the Iban inhabit the state of Sarawak, not the state of Sabah which was formerly known as North Borneo]." This cloth is two decorative end panels for a man's "sirat" or loincloth. The warp ends are still uncut, just as the piece would have been taken off the continuous-warp back-tension loom upon completion. To complete the loincloth, the two panels would have been cut apart and sewn onto the opposite ends of a long length of plain cloth, from 3 to 11 meters in length [Gittinger 1979:228]. The "sirat" is worn wrapped around the waist and between the legs, with the two decorative panels left to hang in front and back. In other parts of Indonesia a cloth with an uncut warp is more highly valued for ceremonial purposes; this may be the explanation for the form of this cloth. The weaving technique used is more properly termed "sungkit" than "songket". "Songket" is a term used widely in Indonesia for a type of supplementary weft patterned cloths, wherein the supplementary yarn travels straight across the warp elements. It is a term used especially but not exclusively for cloths decorated with metallic thread. "Sungkit" is a specialized type of supplementary weft weave, wherein the supplementary yarns are wrapped completely around the warp elements. The two techniques can easily be distinguished by examining the back of the fabric. The back of a "songket" cloth will be a negative image of the front, whereas "songkit" produces a double-faced fabric identical on both sides. "Sirat" are not commonly illustrated in the literature. The two examples [Gittinger 1979:228; Kahn Majlis 1984:plate 661] are from the Sakarang people, apparently a sub-group of the Iban.
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Heading:
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BIBLIOGRAPHY:
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Notes:
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Kahn Majlis, Brigitte. 1984. INDONESISCHE TEXTILIEN: WEGE ZU GOTTERN UND AHNEN. Cologne, Germany, Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum.
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Collection Description:
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METS ID:
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ark:/13030/ft796nb4cx
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