Old illustrative plate funerary fabric of the Dutch East Indies

Real old photographic plate representing a funerary fabric from the island of soemba. Plate XX. Ikät. Soemba island. "fabrics decorated with ikaté ornaments. 2m50 to 3m. Long, 1m to 1m50 wide, decorated with fringes at both ends, they are used to bury the dead and are buried with them. The decoration, generally blue, red and brown (it was only allowed to women of a certain royal house to weave in blue and white) is formed mainly of animals, roosters, chickens, dogs, horses, fish, turtles, lobsters, shrimps, crocodiles, snakes, fantastic lions, but also men, skull trees, heraldic motifs (borrowed from dutch arms), gold forehead ornaments (mamuli's), arranged in horizontal bands. All these fabrics come from the island of soemba" Plate part of the catalog of an exhibition at the museum of decorative arts in paris in 1927. Under the direction of daniel réal, inspector of the museum of ethnography. Exhibition: fabrics from the dutch east indies. Paris. Librairie des arts décoratifs. A. Calavas, editor. 68 la fayette street. Circa: 1930. Traces of time. Yellowed paper. Please take a good look at the descriptive photographs. Measures: 32.5 X 25 cm / 12.59 X 9.84 in.