Maa cloth

A ceremonial textile produced in Europe for marketing amongst the Toraja communities of central Sulawesi, Indonesia, where it is traditionally known as a maa, a cloth of the ancestors that ‘came from afar / across the sea’. Such cloths play a central role in the local cosmologies, and undoubtedly refer to the historic trade in exotic cloths, most notably early Indian trade textiles which displayed such designs as seen depicted here.

This cloth, depicts a central flowering Tree of Life motif, rendered in a local Toraja vernacular design language – note the mountain from which the tree emerges, and the men on buffaloes - whilst the enclosing floral roundel border designs and the saw-tooth (Indonesian tumpal motifs) of the end borders reflect a wider Indian trade cloth design repertoire (see Guy, 1998).

It was most likely manufactured in the Netherlands or Germany, where in the course of the 19th century a vibrant textile printing industry emerged expressly to serve the needs of “colonial clients”. The Vlisco factory in Helmond, southeast Holland, was particularly famed for supplying both the Indonesian and West Africa markets (the latter market continues today). The precise factory origin of this cloth warrants further research.