Lampung Woman’s Ceremonial Skirt (Tapis)

This tapis (ceremonial skirt) is from the Abung people of North Lampung in South Sumatra. It remains closed and sewn as a skirt and so in its original condition (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 and those more sparsely embroidered. The gold thread is augmented by the application of dozens of tiny metallic sequins on the lowest band, though many of the sequins now are missing.

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’), or tapis 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.

Such a cloth, so laden with gold thread, would confirm the wearer’s well-to-do status.

The skirt is in good condition. There are minor losses to some of the thread detailing, and as mentioned, there are losses to the band of metallic sequins.