A richly narrative Sumba hinggi, woven with a dense ceremonial program of human figures, horses, deer, roosters, attendants, parasols, and ancestral architecture. Rather than presenting isolated motifs, this cloth appears to unfold as an elite funerary cycle, moving from procession and public display to sacrifice, animal offering, and ancestral reception.
The upper register shows a line of figures beneath what may be read as a covered funerary bier or ceremonial canopy, suggesting a procession or mourning rite. Below, a red-faced mounted figure appears under a ceremonial parasol, flanked by attendants, one holding a rooster. This scene joins aristocratic status, animal wealth, and ritual authority.
Further down, seated figures appear beside offering bowls and roosters, forming one of the clearest sacrificial scenes in the cloth. Nearby, figures handle a deer and horse, likely prestige animals brought into the ceremonial field. At the base, a shrine or ancestral house anchors the composition, with figures gathered around it in an apparent act of offering or presentation.
The alternating red and pale figures heighten the ritual drama of the textile. Red appears to mark spiritually charged bodies, sacrifice, and ancestral presence, while the pale figures serve as attendants, mourners, or participants in the rite.
Together, the imagery evokes a powerful Sumbanese vision of death, lineage, status, and transformation, where the living community, sacrificial animals, and ancestors are bound together through ceremony. A compelling example of East Sumba ikat as both textile and narrative world
Size: 4'2" x 9'6" [127cm x 290cm]
Age: Q2 20th century
Country of Origin: Sumba, Indonesia
Type of Textile: Ikat
Material: Cotton
Pile Height: Flatwoven
Condition: Very good
TX681
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