Timorese Man’s Beaded Betel Shoulder Bag with Coin Decoration (Alu Inu)

This bag was used to hold the elements of the betel or sirih quid, a mild social stimulant that was chewed. It is from the Atoni or Dawan people of central Timor island, Eastern Indonesia.

Almost every man would have had a betel bag and traditionally, a Timor woman presented her husband-to-be with a woven betel bag as a token of her skill.

It comprises a woven textile substrate that has been heavily beaded on both sides in a rhombic pattern with small glass trade beads of many colours but primarily white, red and black.

A long, woven cotton handle allowed the bag to be worn over the shoulder. Numerous decorative strands of pompoms and beads are attached to the handle, and to each side of the bag.

From the lower part of the bag is a pendant fringe of tiny trade beads and old coins. The coins include a selection of copper coins, the earliest of which are several VOC coins dated 1790 and the latest is a Dutch East Indies coin with Javanese script and dated 1945.

Such bags were used in conjunction with beaded lime containers such as these examples.

Similar examples are illustrated in Maxwell (2003, p. 93), and Brinkgreve & Stuart-Fox (2013, p. 291).

The bag is in very fine condition. Inevitably some of the coins are missing, but the loss is barely noticeable among the profusion.