Toba Batak Ulos

Ikat with with supplementary weaving diamond designs and fringe

An ulos, is a traditional woven cloth of the Batak peoples. This handwoven Toba Batak textile combined warp ikat with supplementary decorative weaving and an elaborately finished fringe. The textile is primarily dyed with the ikat technique. The ends are finished with decorative borders and long fringe. Ulos are traditional Batak textiles used as garments, shoulder cloths, ceremonial textiles, and important gifts. The exact type of ulos and original use of this piece are uncertain.

The irregularity and very fine vertical striping and areas of blurred, irregular horizontal patterning of the textile are consistent with warp ikat, in which sections of the warp yarns are tied and resist-dyed before the cloth is woven.

  • The decorative top and bottom borders are decorated with maroon diamond shaped designs in the supplementary weaving technique in which additional threads are introduced to create raised or highly patterned areas. Similar combinations of warp ikat and supplementary weft occur in traditional Toba Batak ulos

    Ulos are much more than ordinary garments. Among the Batak they have traditionally functioned as shoulder cloths ceremonial textiles heirlooms and important gifts associated with births marriages funerals and other life-cycle events. Their designs and construction can communicate social and ceremonial significance.

    Rural Sumatra around Lake Toba is the cultural heartland of the Toba Batak and traditional ulos weaving continues in villages around the lake.

 

  • Title: Ikat Ulos

  • Date: Acquired in 1996

  • Geography: Sumatra, Indonesia

  • Medium: Cotton

  • Dimensions: H. 72 in.  W. 25 in.

  • Provenance: Purchased in Sumatra

  • Inventory Number:  IND.17