1928.69.177

Collection type

Object

Description

Woman's skirt of dark blue cotton with blue stripes and supplementary weft designs in dark blue yarn and red-dyed dog's hair.

Long description

Woman's skirt of dark blue cotton with blue stripes and supplementary weft designs in dark blue yarn and red-dyed dog's hair. The cloth is constructed of two panels of plain woven cotton textile, stitched together with dark blue yarn. There are two lighter blue warp stripes, with another very thin blue line (3 warp threads thick) in the middle. The two thicker blue stripes are decorated with motifs woven with supplementary weft inlays: one stripe contains twenty diamond and opposing triangle (jabili) motifs and a short zigzag line, while the other stripe contains nine opposing triangle motifs. Each of these motifs is half dark blue yarn, half red-dyed dog's hair, with the ends of the threads extending at right angles into the dark blue cloth. There are twenty further rectangular motifs in red-dyed dog's hair, based along the narrow blue line. At one end of the cloth there are four red weft stripes alternating with three blue stripes, while at the other end are five red weft stripes alternating with four blue stripes. The warp ends of the cloth have been twisted and knotted into a fringe at each end.

Geographical reference

India

Asia > Southern Asia > India

Nagaland; Süngratsü village

Cultural groups

Ao Naga

Person

Field collector James Philip Mills

PRM source James Philip Mills

Date / Period

Date made: Before 1921

Date collected

7 March 1921

Acquisition information

Loaned: 06/1921 Donated: 1928

Materials and processes

Material Cotton Seed Fibre Textile Plant, Material Cotton Seed Fibre Yarn Plant, Process Woven, Process Dyed, Material Dog Hair Yarn Animal, Process Supplementary Weft Woven, Process Stitched

Dimensions

Length x Width 1300 x 725 mm

Object numbers

Accession number: 1928.69.177

Research and responses

This skirt fits into Wettstein's typology of Ao women's clan skirt as T2/T3. These are skirts with blue longitudinal stripes with red symbols and red squares or oblongs on longitudinal lines. Wettstein notes that the opposing triangle design is called 'chapili', and represents the old Ao iron currency.

Reference: Wettstein, M., 2014. Naga Textiles: design, technique, meaning and effect of a local craft tradition in Northeast India. Stuttgart: Arnoldsche Art publishers, p.175.

In a Talking Threads meeting with members of the Ao Naga women's apex organisation, Watsü Mungdang, in September 2021, the group confirmed the current spelling for this design is 'jabilee' and that it symbolises wealth.

Associated publications

This textile has been hand drawn as a colour pencil drawing reproduced as fig.83 on page 247 of 'Naga Textiles: design, technique, meaning and effect of a local craft tradition in Northeast India' by Marion Wettstein, published 2014 Vienna , Arnoldsche Art publishers, Stuttgart. The drawing is accompanied with the caption: 'A variation of an Ao woman's clan skirt of design type 2 and 3 combined, worn by Pongener clan of Sangratsu village (PRM Acc. No. 128.69.177, 1920s)' [FB 22/10/2014] This textile has been hand drawn as a diagram, with details of the motifs, by Marion Wettstein on page 28 of 'Naga Textiles: design, technique, meaning and effect of a local craft tradition in Northeast India' by Marion Wettstein, published 2014 Vienna , Arnoldsche Art publishers, Stuttgart. [FB 22/10/2014]

Search terms: Textile, Clothing, Status, Skirt