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Here is a nice handspun-thread Sikka ikat from my collection....classic botanic motifs in pink on aubergene colours with small accents of indigo on the flowers. Look to be all vegetable dyes except for some white trade thread accents in the weft. Found this in the passar in Maumere, Flores in 1992. This seems to have originally been a tube-sarung which unfortunately had been openned up to become a blanket ( perhaps for extra appeal to tourists ! ). Nevertheless it's in very nice condition with no holes or tears, happy about that at least. The texture is nice and coarse ( although not particularly tightly woven )...it weighs 790 grams with dimensions 169 cm x 114 cm excluding the fringes. I've seen images of very similar ikats but can't find any attribution to a particular village.

Hi,

I wonder if the blue highlights in this textile have been painted on after the textile was woven. A pure blue is not normally used in Sikka ikat motifs although there are indigo dyed textiles with white ikat patterns. I would guess that this old sarong was opened and the light blue painted on to white ikat motif areas, perhaps as you say to make it more appealing to buyers.

Best regards

MAC, yes food for thought....I often wondered at the feat of placing the small indigo blue splashes on these ikats ( many of the Lio ikats I got in Nggela & Wolowaru / Wolojita show this indigo highlighting of flower-centres....I have added a few such examples here ). Not sure if the intention was for enhanced saleability with the Nggela pieces, as some of them were obviously well worn tube sarungs used by the villagers. This Sikka textile in particular shows striking similarities to Peter Ten Hoopen's Sikka piece 053 in the pusaka collection. Thanks for perusing and commenting , regards - Steven.