Richard, a very nice and diverse group. Thanks for sharing them with us. I think that my favourite is Naga 2 - but Cowry Shell Man has bags of personality in 3! Nice to see the handspun yarn which is very clear in 2 and 3.
You might be interested in a book I got recently (via Amazon) 'The Seven Sisters of India: Tribal Worlds between Tibet and Burma. (details on Burma bibliography page) It covers the 7 states stretching from Tibet in the north to Myanmar in the south and includes Nagaland. P 74 has a Cowry Man very similar to yours but not quite so fluid. The man and circles are on a striped background rather than plain. that particular one they say is 'Garment of the Sema-Nagas, adorned with cowry shells arranged in the form of a human figure and circles.....Such a garment was reserved for the exclusive use of a successful head-hunter who had given an entire series of feast of merit.' You, of course, have the Julian Jacobs 'The Nagas, Hill peoples of northeast India'. It is very similar to the cowrie shell body cloth on page 298. Your elephant cloth is very similar to the one photographed in 1947 on page 10 in the Nagas. Your no 2 is very similar to a couple of Angami cloths. All in all a very nice group for your collection - enjoy! Pamela
http://www.tribaltextiles.info/bibliogr ... _books.htm