woman's ceremonial skirt (lau hada)

Unknownabout 1900

Details

Title: woman's ceremonial skirt (lau hada)
Creator: Unknown
Creator Gender: None
Date Created: about 1900
Type: skirts
Rights: The Eliza M. and Sarah L. Niblack Collection
External Link: http://www.imamuseum.org/mercury/load-artwork/7142
Medium: imported cotton fabric, nassa shells, glass beads
wall label: The large male and female figures on this skirt, a common motif in Sumbanese textiles, allude to fertility and the continuity of life. Throughout Indonesia, red is generally associated with earth, woman, blood, and fertility. This elaborately decorated skirt would have been given to the bride as part of the ritualized gift exchange that accompanied her nuptials. The shrimp and lobsters on this skirt symbolize rebirth-the shrimp because they shed and replace their shells; the lobsters because they can regenerate their limbs.
measurements: 29 x 46 1/2 in.
culture: Indonesian

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