Tapis (Garment)
Unknown Artist
1800s
Medium
tabby weave, warp ikat; cotton / embroidery; silk
Dimensions
{"overall":{"height":1.302,"width":1.178}}
Classification
Textile
Department
Textiles
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Dudley P. Allen Fund
Accession Number
1983.215
About this artwork
"Tapis" from central and southern Sumatra combine warp ikat with embroidery. The angular, geometric designs of the warp ikat can be traced back to the bronze age culture of China. During the first millennium B.C., elements of that culture spread to Indonesia where they survived in remote areas well into the 20th century. Completely different are the mysterious, curvilinear forms of the embroidered bands. Some of these have become too abstracted to identitfy; but others can be recognized as human...