Ceremonial skirt with medallion design

Title
Ceremonial skirt with medallion design
Year/Period
Early-mid 20th century
Region
Laos
Material
Cotton, silk
Technique
Supplementary weft woven
Dimension
Gross measurement: 82 x 146 cm
Accession No.
2012-00294
Collection of
Credit Line
Gift of Percival Vatsaloo

This skirt has large vertical bands with supplementary weft motifs in bright silk colours. The motifs take the form of geometric medallions, with horizontal bands of fine saw tooth and interlocking zig zag patterns along the lower hem.This type of design is found in the Tai Daeng tradition where the skirt is known as 'sin kor dok'. The smaller medallion motifs are also found in the Tai Muang or Tai Thanh tradition in Nghe An province in Vietnam. The Tai began to move out of southern China into northern areas of mainland Southeast Asia during the 12th century. The rich textile-weaving legacy remains today, although designs and markets for such textiles are changing with globalisation.