Palepai, described by generations of foreign ethnographers and collectors as "ship cloths" because of the predominance of a

ship A ship is a large watercraft that travels the world's oceans and other sufficiently deep waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research, and fishing. Ships are generally distinguished ...

motif Motif may refer to: General concepts * Motif (chess composition), an element of a move in the consideration of its purpose * Motif (folkloristics), a recurring element that creates recognizable patterns in folklore and folk-art traditions * Moti ...

, were said to represent the "ship of the dead." In

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

these cloths are also called ''sesai balak'' ("big wall"). No convincing field data were ever collected from 19th century weavers or traditional owners about the iconography. Since then, there has been great loss of Lampung traditional knowledge. The history of these ships cloth is obscure and the reasons for both their original use and their decline remain conjectural. . The factors that are presumed to have caused this include the abolition of slavery in 1859, the decline in the pepper trade and changing marriage traditions. Two lesser known forms are the ''tatibin'' and the ''tampan maju''. The ''tatibin '' are similar in design to the single ship palepai but are smaller, not exceeding 1.5 M. The ''tampan maju'' beaded and also shorter than the large cloths. Only 12 examples of ''tampan maju'' are known to exist.

Design elements

] No two Palepai are identical, however their designs fall into four main groups. #A large ship stretching the entire length of the cloth as is seen in the image above. #Two large red ships, an example of which can be seen in the Textile Arts Collection. #Two or three rows of stylized human figures extending along the length of the cloth, an example of which is in the art collection of the Powerhouse Museum in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. #Four or more discrete panels. These panels are usually of the same composition, an example of which is in the collection of the

Art Gallery of New South Wales The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), founded as the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1872 and known as the National Art Gallery of New South Wales between 1883 and 1958, is located in The Domain, Sydney, Australia. It is the most importa ...

. As little is known about the meaning of the design elements of the ships cloth we have to conjecture from ethnographic parallels.

Uses

The use of palepai is the prerogative of those of the ''penyimbang'' rank in the complex social structure of the Paminggir people. These textiles are used at many ceremonies of the life cycle. In ceremonies the palepai was hung on the right wall of an inner room of the house as a backdrop for the central figure in the rite. In the marriage ceremony this is the bride who sits in front of the cloth of her husband-to be, after arriving in an elaborately bedecked procession. On the bride's first visit home after the wedding ceremony the cloth may have been hung. And then again, shortly after the birth when the first child is presented to the maternal grandparents to receive a name. The cloth is also hung at the celebration of a boy's circumcision and at funerals. For the Paminggir nobility the presence of the large palepai was also essential at ceremonies pronouncing the rank of the owner.

Technical features

The designs are executed by a continuous and discontinuous supplementary wefts on a plain cotton weave foundation. A

supplementary weave Supplementary weaving is a decorative technique in which additional threads are woven into a textile to create an ornamental pattern in addition to the ground pattern. The supplementary weave can be of the warp or of the weft. Supplementary weave ...

weft is an additional weft element inserted between two of the regular foundation wefts. The major dyes used were most probably the same as those used in the manufacture of women's sarongs in the area. Sepang ('' Caesalpinia sappan'') and

tamarind Tamarind (''Tamarindus indica'') is a Legume, leguminous tree bearing edible fruit that is probably indigenous to tropical Africa. The genus ''Tamarindus'' is monotypic taxon, monotypic, meaning that it contains only this species. It belongs ...

for the red,

turmeric Turmeric () is a flowering plant, ''Curcuma longa'' (), of the ginger family, Zingiberaceae, the rhizomes of which are used in cooking. The plant is a perennial, rhizomatous, herbaceous plant native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asi ...

and tamarind for the yellow, and

indigo Indigo is a deep color close to the color wheel blue (a primary color in the RGB color space), as well as to some variants of ultramarine, based on the ancient dye of the same name. The word "indigo" comes from the Latin word ''indicum'', m ...

and lime for the blue. The complexity of the organization of any one cloth is enormous, and even though we can only guess at the technicalities involved, if the reader needs more information this is available online.

Rarity

These cloths have not been woven in a century and few exemplars can be found today. It is estimated that there are only 100 to 150 palepai of all kinds still in existence.Thomas Murray, personal communication

References

Citations

Bibliography

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External links

Textile Arts Collection Acquires Important Indonesian Ship Cloth

Powerhouse Museum Collection item A1055

Palepai (ceremonial hanging) with design of four ships

Palepai Maju in The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Textile arts of Indonesia Lampung Weaving