Ship cloth or palepai

The cloth consists of a ground weave in undyed cotton yarn in linen binding with decorations in supplementary floating yarns in yellow, red-brown and blue. It was made by the Paminggir, one of the larger groups of peoples who live in the Lampung area of South Sumatra. The entire area is famous for its textile art, though the ship cloths have a special prominence.

The format, motifs, function and regional spread differentiates these from tatibin and tampan, though all play a social ceremonial role. Palepai were used only by the nobility during transition ceremonies, as wall hangings; this explains their other name: sesai balak, large wall.

The ship motif is the symbol of endless movement in Lampung. As such it is inevitably bound to the transition ritual: at the same time it symbolizes the marga, the clan and its territory and through this it assists the visualization of the world view.