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Lot 819

A cotton cermonial textile, mawa'
Sulawesi (Toraja)

18 December 2017, 11:00 PST
San Francisco

Sold for US$718.75 inc. premium

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A cotton cermonial textile, mawa'

Sulawesi (Toraja)
Of tall rectangular section, now mounted in a modern shadow box.
95 3/4in (243cm) height inclusive of modern shadow box

Footnotes

According to Roy Hamilton, 'Palampore provided the precedent for designs of a huge tree with many leaves, growing out of a mound or mountain...This "world tree" is a feature of Toraja as much as Indian cosmology...a tree that came into being at the separation of the underworld, earth, and heavens out of the original chaos. This tree united all three layers of the cosmos and its branches were laden with all kinds of wealth, including precious textiles...' (See Barnes & Kahlenberg (eds), Five Centuries of Indonesian Textiles, New York, 2010, pp.280-1, pl.75.) Also compare a related mawa' with similar treatment of figures and buffalo in the Metropolitan Museum (Acc.#1990.335.13), and see Yale University Art Gallery, Acc.#ILE2006.4.45.

Provenance
The Krannich Collection, Virginia
Acquired from Arts of Asia Gallery, Denpasar, Bali, 1989

Additional information

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