Product Description

Antique Tanimbar Tube Sarong 1

Material: Cotton
Style: Tanimbar, Indonesia
Size: Length 137 cm, Width 123 cm
Order Number: MHSATTS1

The Tanimbar Islands are located in the South Moluccas and comprise over 60 islands which are 135 miles long and 70 miles wide. They depend on boats as their main transport.

This tube sarong was an old and most valuable family heirloom and would have belonged to a member of the royal family. It was only permitted to be worn by royalty.

The dark middle section with. narrow stripes is characteristic of this type of rare antique sarong. The width of the borders may indicate status. It defines a sarong of value. The wider the border, the higher the rank.

There is a photo of a Tanimbarese lady wearing one over her shoulder in an article on Tanimbar Boats by Susan MacKinnon in Islands and Ancestors, Indigenous Styles of Southeast Asia, Prestel, 1988 (page 161).

Apart from their use as ritual dress and as wedding gifts, sarongs had healing properties. Sick people can be cooled by laying the cloth on the sick parts of the body.

Sarongs have also been used as a place for female ancestors especially to descend to in order to communicate with the living during rituals.

Generally dark colours are characteristic of Tanimbar cloths.

Map of Tanimbar.

Please ask for the price (or make an offer).