Lampung Woman’s Ceremonial Skirt (Tapis Balak)

This tapis (ceremonial skirt) is from the Abung people of North Lampung in South Sumatra. It remains closed and sewn as a skirt (rather than having been opened for display purposes).

It comprises striped silk-cotton dyed with indigo, mustard yellow and red dyes and has alternating registers densely embroidered with metallic thread wrapped in gold.

See Totton (2009, p. 106) for a related example which is described as a tapis ‘balak‘ or tapis ‘large/arrogant’.

One name given to this genre of cloths –tapis tua – literally means the ‘ancient skirt’ (Maxwell, R., 2003, p, 184.) But the Abung term for this specific type is tapis dewasano (‘fully-laden cloth’), ortapis jung sarat in Indonesian (Totton, 2009, p. 99).

This spectacular use of gold-wrapped thread confirms the skirt’s origins from among the Abung people. Noblewomen wore such cylindrical skirts on ceremonial occasions. Or such skirts were worn by brides form wealthy families. The wealth for such ostentations displays was afforded by the lucrative pepper trade with which the south of Sumatra became associated during the colonial era, and which benefited the Abung directly.

The skirt is in excellent condition. There are few or no losses, no repairs, and only some loose threads here and there, as might be expected.