Wall Hanging or Ceiling Canopy

The silk wefts of this textile were resist dyed with a design of elephants, temples, large tigers (?), sacred trees, and humans before the textile was woven. Both the weft-ikat technique and the motifs reveal the influence of Indian textiles, particularly <em>patola</em>. The dark reddish-maroon color of the ground, however, was not produced by over-dyeing, as in India and Bali, but by the combination of red wefts with black warps. This silk was made to serve as a wall hanging or ceiling canopy in a Buddhist temple.