Ex Japanese Private Collection, published, fully conserved

Featured here is a classical example from a rare and celebrated group of trade cloths characterized by a row of celestial female musicians, likely apsaras, each seen in profile holding her instrument in one hand, and a parrot in the other. Although there are occasional variants, as a group they are nearly all block printed, tending to have deep red and blue vat dye colors with occasional greens and “painted” yellow dyes on a sturdy hand-spun cotton ground. All of sari-length (approx. 5 meters) and have a confirmed radiocarbon dating that place them securely in the zone of the 16th-17th Century. None seem to have survived in their home country of India, where they were produced in the western province of Gujarat and exported from coastal ports. They feature an “eye off the face” style that links them to 15th and 16th miniatures paintings of the Jain School. In the present piece, you will notice the feet are pointed in the opposite direction of where the Apsaras are looking. This suggests rotational movement, perhaps dance.

These long Indian Trade Cloths were considered sacred by the Toraja people of Sulawesi and were given the name Maá. They were kept as clan treasure for centuries and displayed during important ceremonies. They were part of a great spice trade network, exchanged for goods like cloves, nutmeg and pepper on some of the remote outer islands of Indonesia.

Comparisons:

Patterns of Trade, plate 26 on pp 93-93 from The Asian Civilizations Museum of Singapore, from the Roger Hollander Collection

Woven Cargoes, by John Guy, plate 148, p113, from Madam Riboud’s A.E.D.T.A (now in the Museum Guimet in Paris)

The DeYoung Museum of San Francisco acquired a piece of the exact same pattern in 2006
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The Metropolitan Museum has a related piece in their collection and includes a good essay about this type of cloth.
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Ceremonial Cloth and Heirloom Textile with Row of Female Musicians at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
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