This ceremonial cloth or ‘tampan’ depicts rich iconography of a stylised Naga or a serpent, as a ship carrying human and animal figures on it. The only ancestor or deity figure shown on the tampan is found in a house-like structure with hook motifs and a pyramid on its roof top. This house-like structure probably represents an ancestral shrine, a motif commonly found on tampans. Ceremonial cloths could be used as gifts, covers for ritual offerings or pillows for the deceased. It is normally woven using the supplementary weft technique, where additional horizontal threads create patterns over the top of the ground weave.
