Ceremonial textile (tampan)
Approx. 1800–1900
Indonesia; Lampung province, Sumatra island, Paminggir people
Cotton and dyes
28 1/4 × 29 in (71.8 cm × 73.7 cm)
Gift of M. Glenn Vinson and Claire Vinson, 2021.59
Motifs found on these cloths include animals, trees, and often ships. Ship imagery is important throughout Indonesia, as one would expect in an archipelagic nation. The amount and specificity of figurative imagery are unusual for woven cloths in this region. Scholars have conjectured about the connections between these textiles and the presence of ship imagery in other parts of Indonesia—on imported Dong son drums, the reliefs of Borobudur, and indigenous architecture—but less attention has been paid to the ships depicted on these textiles and how they relate to indigenous and foreign boat-building traditions.
Native Indonesian sailing craft (pinisi) have two masts, and this has three. Thus this ship may represent a European ship of the time or a modified native craft that has some Western features. What can you see in this textile? Here are a few possibilities:
1 Rudders
2 Waves
3 Jellyfish
4 Turtles
5 Ray
6 Sea sponges
7 Batfish
8 Coral heads
9 Cannons in ports
10 Opah fish
11 Bow chaser cannons
12 Sea cucumbers
13 Stern chaser
14 Bow and stern
decorated flags
15 Umbrellas
16 Flag
17 Sailors tending the sails
18 Sail
19 Birds
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