Ceremonial Hanging (palepai)
19th century
Medium
Cotton, silk, gold-leaf-over-lacquered-paper strip wrapped bast fiber (probably ramie), and silver-leaf-over-lacquered-paper strip wrapped cotton, plain weave with supplementary brocading wefts
Dimensions
246.3 × 60.8 cm (97 × 23 7/8 in.)
Classification
textile
Department
Textiles
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
180305
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
The Paminggir aristocracy employed a type of ritual hanging commonly known as a ship cloth, a name that refers to one of the principal motifs of such textiles. These hangings display a very limited repertoire of patterns, including one or two red ships, a single blue ship, tree images, buildings, and rows of stylized anthropomorphic figures. The indigenous name for textiles of this type, palepai, probably goes back to the old Javanese word lepih, which means “to fold” or “to double.” Palepai ser...
About the Artist
Unknown
The artist designated as "Unknown" in our virtual museum's collection exemplifies a poignant chapter in art history: creators whose identities have faded into obscurity despite the enduring power of their work. With only one known artwork attributed to them in our holdings, this figure represents countless anonymous hands that shaped visual culture across centuries. Museums worldwide, including th...