This ceremonial cloth or ‘tampan’ depicts a ship carrying several highly stylised creatures with tails and hooks on the sides of their bodies. Ancestor or deity figures are also featured at the top amidst geometric patterns. Ship imagery in Lampung textiles symbolises a spiritual vessel that carries the community through transitions in life. Such 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.
