Ceremonial cloth
Not on view
This nineteenth century, rare Iban cloth from the Dayak peoples of Borneo is in excellent condition and features a supremely well-executed pilih (supplementary weft) technique on an unusually large-scale. The cloth comprises a red background offset with dramatic designs picked out in black and white. Two pairs of lizard-like creatures with protruding tongues and coiled tails face each other, their arms and legs set animatedly on either side of the body as if in readiness to strike. A double zig-zag border separates their line of symmetry. Elaborate foliate designs fill the spaces in-between these central figures and seal the longitudinal design at each end.
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