Silk ceremonial cloth with geometric and animal figures in weftikat and with gold and silver thread

Unknown artist

Cloth with variously coloured geometric figures, including four large stars (Gittinger, M. 1979:148, no. 110), oblique diamonds, stylised animals such as scorpions and lobsters. The ends have a border (30cm.) with motifs in gold and silver thread. Weaving with gold and silver thread is called songket (Pelras, C., 1962:229).\Ikat is a technique in which the threads of a fabric are first tied off, according to pattern, after which they are dipped into a dye bath. The tied off parts are not dyed. This process can be repeated a number of times, so that a multicoloured pattern is created.\ Depending on whether the dyeing process has been applied to the warp, weft or both threads, this technique is called warp-ikat, weft-ikat and double-ikat. The first is the most common.Before the threads are tied off, they are often folded over each other, both lengthwise and widthwise. With such a method, the motifs appear in mirror image.