Tapis Sarong

Lampong in South Sumatra benefitted greatly from being situated along the trade route to the Far East. The Lampung tapi sarongs flaunt their wearers’ wealth and social standing. The striped plain woven ground is decorated in a striped design that is then decorated with different, mostly shiny materials such as metallic thread, mica(later replaced by glass), polychrome silk embroidery , sequins and appliqué. The tradition of making and wearing tapis declined during Dutch colonial rule, but after independence the Indonesian government began promoting a revival of this important textile tradition.

This tapi-sarong is from the second half of the 19th century and is decorated with mica, metallic thread couched embroidery, silk embroidery and appliqué wool fragments. For a similar example check “Wearing Wealth and Styling Identity:Tapis from Lampung, South Sumatra, Indonesia” by Mary LouiseTotton, figure4-4    page 123