This ceremonial cloth or ‘tampan’ depicts a ship carrying two large house-like structures with small ancestor or deity figures housed under it in mirror image. The structures may represent ancestor shrines, a common motif found in tampans. 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.
