tribaltextiles.info

Hello all,

There are many Savu sarongs out there. Darrell McKnight estimates that some 200,000 were shipped out to Bali (most to be turned into bags and jackets) in the seventies and eighties alone. But the sheer number that we have seen on the market may make us close our eyes for anything Savu, and overlook some rare beauties. Actually there are some astounding Savu textiles, with incredible workmanship. Look at this piece from the nobility, with patola-inspired motif, that just joined our collection. Here the weaver has improved on the patola-inspired jilamprang pattern by creating an illusion through the placement of the 'flowers', or lozenges, which create two additional 'invisible' jilamprang motifs. The weaving is so tight that it looks like a work of pen on paper. The yarn is very fine handspun, except for a few accent stripes in commercial yarn, including white, most only one thread wide. Dyes of course are vegetable. The indigo is so dark that it comes across almost as black, yet there is not perceptible bleeding due to extreme steeping in dye. Very good work by any island's standards. So let's not be blinded by the thousands of second and third rate pieces and give the best Savunese weavers the honor they deserve!

Description: Ei worapi for bangsawan (nobility) of Hubi Ae, Bunga Palem Besar, Greater Blossom. Pattern locally called patola. Perfect imitations of patola jilamprang patterns in the widest bands. The little zig-zag stitch at the top left corner is a bunga wurumada, a sign that the ceremony required after the weaving and before sewing the cloth into a sarong was completed. [Lowest panel not shown because of upload restriction to files <500Kb.]

Very similar to sarong exhibited at Museum Tekstil, Jakarta, 2014, depicted in Geneviève Duggan, Woven Stories, p. 71 top.

Enjoy,
Peter

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Peter ten Hoopen
www.ikat.us

PUSAKA COLLECTION: ONLINE MUSEUM OF TRADITIONAL INDONESIAN IKAT TEXTILES