Shoulder cloth

Title
Shoulder cloth
Creator
Year/Period
Early 20th century
Region
Bangka, South Sumatra
Dimension
Gross measurement: 220 x 90.3 cm
Accession No.
2009-01538

This fine quality silk shouldercloth is known as a ‘kain selendang’. It was produced using both the weft ikat ('limar') and supplementary weft ('songket') techniques. Limar is produced by first carefully tying and dyeing the weft threads which run horizontally in the cloth’s weave. By doing this and then painstakingly aligning the threads while weaving the cloth, the designs in the cloth emerge. Songket is made by weaving additional supplementary weft threads into the cloth. By floating these supplements over selected warp threads patterns can be produced on the surface of the cloth.This particular textile has a beautiful green centerfield with fine limar and songket panels along the sides and ends. It is more typical of Bangka style ‘limar’ cloths.