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Iban bidang browse these categories for related items... Directory: Antiques:Regional Art:Asian:Southeast Asian:Textiles:Pre 1920: item # 739757 Please refer to our stock # 1786 when inquiring.
Abhaya Asian Antiques 26 A G/F Tung Wan Tau Mui Wo, Lantau Island, Hong Kong Tel/Fax 852-29847509 Guest Book $300.USD/$2300.HKD |
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| Exceptionally fine and rare Iban woman’s skirt with “lintah betgam” - leeches swallowing each and bamboo shoot pattern. Circa 1920, this piece has a bold design woven from all handspun cotton and natural dyes with the occasional indigo highlight. There is one small hole in the skirt (1cm x 3mm) however the rest of the textile is outstanding condition with a completely intact selvedge. L: 116cm/ 45.8in and W: 46.5cm/18.2in. It should be noted that Iban weavings are one of the few well documented textile groups in Southeast Asia, and all the symbols in them have a strong connection between the spiritual and the natural world, with the designs being revealed to the weavers via dreams. Iban weaving work was done in the past exclusively by women and is viewed as a sacred act, as was the men’s tradition of head hunting. In fact sometimes the weaving of an important piece was called the women’s warpath. I traveled in Sarawak 20 years going inland by bus and boat and it was still common to see lean tattooed men in loin clothes getting on the river taxis carrying blowpipes with women with long pendulous and pierced earlobes or to visit the then recently forced settlements of the nomadic Penan people where the women went bare breasted. On my last trip there this has all disappeared in a very short span. The majority of the native peoples have been evangelized, although the Penan are still fighting a losing battle to maintain their unique way of life. Now the rivers are silting up due to over logging and the forests are giving way to grow palm oil to supply the latest “bio fuel” fad. For a scholarly discourse on Iban culture and weavings Iban Ritual Textiles by Traude Gavin is excellent or a more of a “field guide” approach to the subject Pua: Iban Weavings of Sarawak by Edric Ong would both make good reading. | |||||||||
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