Asian Textile Studies
Contents
The Lau Tube Skirt
Lau Hiamba
Kapunduk and Kanatang Lau Hiamba
Kambera Lau Hiamba
Yubawai Lau Hiamba
Pau Lau Hiamba
Rindi Lau Hiamba
Mangili Lau Hiamba
Waijelu Lau Hiamba
Bibliography
The Lau Tube Skirt
On Sumba Island, as elsewhere in Indonesia, a tube skirt is generally composed of two or three rectangular panels sewn together horizontally side to side and then formed into a cylindrical skirt by adding a vertical rolled side seam. The skirt is worn by first creating a vertical fold so that the diameter of the folded skirt matches that of the waist and then tucking the top inside to hold the fold in place. Long skirts can be folded under the arm pits or worn with one side over a shoulder. At a funeral or other long ceremony, a long lau doubles as a sleeping bag.
The panels of the lau are always woven with a continuous circular warp, either individually or as a pair. However, a small section of the warps cannot be completed because the shed eventually becomes too small to pass a shuttle. This section of unwoven warps is known as the rumata and is always removed since on Sumba it carries no special cultural significance.
This practice contrasts with that followed in the Lamaholot region of eastern Flores, where the unwoven warps (variously known as the revot, rewot, serewot or latar) are considered culturally important and must be retained if the skirt is to be used for bridewealth exchange in a marriage alliance.
As elsewhere in eastern Indonesia, the names of objects vary across Sumba Island from location to location, according to the local dialect. A few of the regional terms used on the island to describe a woman’s tube skirt in the past were listed by Wielenga in 1917:
| Region | Local Term |
| Kambera and East Sumba | laoe or lau |
| Memboro | jē |
| Lauli | jèè |
| Lamboya | jè |
| Wadjewa | wèè |
| Laura | rgèè |
| Wai Bangga | rèè |
| Ana Kala and Wanokaka | rabi |
| Kodi | lawô |
(Wielenga 1917, 37)
As this list covers only a fraction of the 35 traditional domains on Sumba it is likely that a full survey would uncover many additional terms.
Although the technique of warp ikat is widely used along the eastern coast of East Sumba, it is only found in one domain in West Sumba – Kodi in the far southwest.
Fortunately, the single term lau is universally used to describe a skirt throughout East Sumba.
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Lau Hiamba
Lau hiamba are women’s sarongs from East Sumba that are decorated with warp ikat. In the Kambera language the term hiamba (pronounced ‘hemba’) means warp but is also used as a shorthand to describe warp ikat. A more accurate translation of warp ikat is hondung hiamba or hondu hiamba, meaning warp binding. The weft is the pamawang. Lau hiamba are either two-panel or three-panel.
In the Kambera dialect, a skirt panel is called a hanai, meaning ‘one width’. The middle horizontal seam is the utu banggi and the vertical side seam is the utu tindja (Wielenga 1910, 279). Utu means hand sewn with a needle, banggi means waist and tindja means standing, i.e. vertical.
Above: A lau hiamba from Kambera. Richardson Collection
Below: A group of women from Kanatang going to a marriage negotiation in Mangili.
All but two (the first and third on the left) are wearing lau hiamba
In the past such sarongs would have been rare and confined to the nobility. Early accounts of Sumbanese women’s clothing make no mention of ikat and suggest that women mostly wore a very thick, coarse and narrow cotton sarong, which was mud dyed and black in colour. The top was folded down leaving the breasts exposed. They also make no mention of men’s warp ikat hip and shoulder wrappers, but that does not mean that neither existed. Warp ikat was only produced along the eastern coastal strip of Sumba and in the far west, where it was restricted to the high nobility and in any event was only worn for ceremonial purposes.
Samuel Roos, the Kontroleur of Sumba from 1866-1873, reported on the state of women’s clothing during his tenure (1872, 13 and 69):
Women’s clothing .... consists of a cotton sarong (laauw), which is very thick, coarse, narrow and long, enabling the wearer to raise it above her head to stay warm at night.
The sarong is dyed black, sometimes woven with designs. Small sea shells and beads are sometimes sewn on.
It is usually worn so that the breasts are exposed. Beads and thin ivory bracelets serve as jewellery.
Above: Young women wearing plain and mud-dyed sarongs
Below: A group of women and girls wearing crude mud-dyed skirts
Photographed by the Dutch official, Hendrik Freerk Tillema, in 1925-26
Roos also pointed out the poor state of clothing at that time:
The Sumbanese are distinguished by uncleanness, both on their body and in their dwelling. Very seldom does it happen that they wash themselves.
The clothes are not washed either. If they are too dirty and unsightly, they are dyed black and worn, until the item is decayed or worn out by the dirt.
Roos did observe that people dressed colourfully for funerals (1872, 63, 66).
The first mention of lau decorated with ikat was made by Wijnand Nieuwenkamp (Nieuwenkamp 1923, 309). He mentioned that lau could sometimes be decorated with ikat, in which case they were known as a lau kombu, or could sometimes be decorated with weaving (i.e. supplementary warp or pahikung). Note that the term lau kombu is used loosely in East Sumba to describe any skirt that is dyed with morinda. We never use it ourselves because it is too general. Nieuwenkamp used the term incorrectly because there are of course many lau hiamba that contain no morinda at all.
Nieuwenkamp also noted that in the past it was only the rich and influential who were permitted to wear decorated fabrics. Common women were not allowed to make coloured fabrics, so that the knowledge of ikat remained limited to a small circle of higher-class women.
By 1940 the Dutch civil servant/ethnologist Dr Christiaan Nooteboom was able to report that decorative sarongs were still restricted to the nobility:
The basic black sarong of coarse fabric is worn by simple people.
Nobles and women of good birth have fine cotton fabric skirts decorated with white (sometimes coloured) threads, arranged in simple but extremely graceful outlines depicting horses, snakes, shrimps or fish. Others wear plain sarongs sewn with shells or half guilders.
Many sarongs are woven like the men's cloths with variously coloured figures. They have different colored bands, the wider ones decorated with simple stylized motifs.
In her seminal thesis on East Sumba textiles, Moni Adams (1969, 82-83) classified ikat lau into two main categories, dividing the first into three types:
- Surface partially ikatted
(1) Alternating ikat stripes and narrow unistripes
(2) Wide ikat bands, usually flanked by narrow ikat, unicolour and ornamental warp stripes.
(3) Ikat stripes combined with substantial decorative warp stripes
- Surface completely ikatted
She claimed that the last category was extremely rare, stating that only three examples were known. We find this statement surprising as we regularly see many examples of this this type of lau – there are 31 examples in our own collection alone. It is possible that Adams came to this conclusion because her research was primarily based on museum collections, which are strongly biased towards men’s hip and shoulder wrappers rather that women’s skirts.
We classify skirts decorated with ikat into three main types:
- lau hiamba, decorated with warp ikat and sometimes plain warp stripes
- lau pahitang hiamba, decorated with ikat and alternating complimentary warp
- lau pahikung hiamba, decorated with ikat and supplementary warp
We then categorise pure lau hiamba by geographical region, because most former domains have their own style of ikat sarong. The seven main coastal regions, from north to south, are: Kapunduk, Kanatang, Kambera, Pau, Rindi, Mangili and Waijelu.
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Kapunduk and Kanatang Lau Hiamba
The former domain of Kapunduk was centred on its former capital at Parai Bakul on the spur of a high plateau several kilometres upstream from the estuary of the Kapunduk River. Parai derives from paraing, meaning both a capital stronghold and a land or princedom. It encompassed the neighbouring princedoms of Wunga, Paraing Karoku, Mbata Puhu, Kalamba and Parai Natang (Adams 1970, 82).
Meanwhile the former domain of Kanatang was centred in kampong Mondu on the Kanatang River. The current centre is Hambapriang.
Note that producing ikat in the former domain of Napu to the north of Kapunduk is taboo (Hoskins 2007, 106). In 1925-26 there was a rebellion in Napu against the payment of taxes and forced labour. It was led by Reku Landurang and supported by Umbu Ndilu Danguramba, the chief of Napu, and Umbu Nai Tahu, the chief of Kapunduk. The resistance was suppressed by the Dutch, the two chiefs were removed and the Napu and Kapunduk landschaps were abolished and merged with Kanatang (Kapita 1976, 56).
The lau hiamba of Kapunduk and Kanatang are similar and quite simple, generally decorated with warp stripes and a band of warp ikat on the lower panel bearing simple motifs. They are frequently only dyed with indigo.
Above and below: Two lau hiamba from Kapunduk, the first indigo dyed with warp stripes, the second morinda dyed with alternating complimentary warp stripes and indigo ikat bands
A simple lau hiamba from Kanatang decorated with a crocodile
The following lau hiamba was woven with a kurangu or shrimp motif by Tenga Lunga in dusun Andamonung in desa Hambapriang, Kanatang. Tenga Lunga made it for herself, to wear for going to church. The shrimp is a common motif in this region because the local men are fishermen, just like Tenga Lunga’s husband. The ikat band is flanked by two plain yellow bands, each containing a central narrow stripe woven using a common local technique called hita langa. It is a version of alternating complimentary warp float using contrasting pairs of yellow and black warps. Each stripe is composed of six pairs of complimentary warps. The outer pair are woven with no float, while the inner four pairs are woven so that the black warp floats over three wefts on the outer facing side. It creates the visual effect of a row of tiny yellow crosses.
A lau hiamba from Hambapriang. Richardson Collection
In these two domains lau are often decorated with a combination of warp ikat and complementary warp, known locally as pahitang. Such skirts are known as lau pahitang hiamba and some almost reach the same levels of sophistication as the finest lau pahikung hiamba produced in Rindi and Pau.
The following two-panel lau pahitang hiamba was acquired in Mondu, a few kilometres west of Hambapraing. It was made roughly 45 years ago. Much of the skirt is woven with narrow alternating bands of indigo and morinda, many woven in the complementary warp technique. The lower panel has five decorative bands, three of warp ikat and two of pahitang woven with white and morinda complimentary warps to produce pairs of cockatoo motifs. The widest ikat band is dominated by an x-shaped motif set against a background of indigo overdyed with morinda while the narrower ikat bands have a row of snake-like motifs set against a morinda background.
A fine lau pahitang hiamba from Kanatang. Richardson Collection.
There has been a long-standing link between Kapunduk and Kanatang and the warp ikat weaving districts of Prailiu and Rindi. In the past, Kapunduk noblemen have taking some of their brides from these two domains. For example, the first wife of Tamu Umbu Kadambung Nggeding, the Raja of Kapunduk from 1959 to 1962, was Tamu Rambu Wai Wulang, the daughter of the Raja of Prailiu, while his third wife was Tamu Rambu Mirinai Bakang a noblewoman from Parai Yawang, Rindi. Interestingly, the ancestors of the largest clan of commoners in Rindi, the Kanatangu, originate from Kanatang (Forth 1981, 425 and 489)
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Kambera Lau Hiamba
The former domain of Kambera, which has a strong tradition of making warp ikat textiles, has been an important producer of lau hiamba, especially those that are completely decorated with warp ikat.
One of the important patterns found in Kambera is the lattice-like design called patola ratu, believed to have been inspired by the patterns on the double ikat silk patola made in Gujarat. These were brought to Sumba by the Dutch as prestige gifts for the local rajas. The term ratu normally means priest or ritual leader, but in some contexts can also be translated as king.
A lau hiamba with the patola ratu design made about 60-years-ago in the Kambera region
Richardson Collection
It is useful to classify Kambera lau hiamba according to their most important weaving centres.
The Waingapu Region
Many of the kampongs surrounding the modern town of Waingapu produced, and in many cases still produce, lau hiamba. Examples include Prailiu, the former royal capital of Kambera, Kalu just one kilometre northwest of Prailiu, Kambaniru, just over one kilometre east of Prailiu, and Kambajawa, three kilomertres west of Prailiu.
A pre-war photograph in the Dutch archives pictures a local Waingapu dealer offering up a lau hiamba for sale. It appears to be a two-panel sarong with a warp-striped upper panel and a warp ikat lower panel decorated with the Dutch royal coat of arms – a pair of crowned rampant long-tail lions (mahal uki) supporting a shield topped by a crown – along with a row of elephants.
Seller with a lau hiamba in Waingapu 1900-1940
Wereldmuseum, Rotterdam
It is likely that in the past, many lau hiamba were produced in Prailiu, the royal capital of the Kambera domain. However, in recent decades weaving within this kampong has declined substantially and today most of the textiles on offer have been made elsewhere.
A lau hiamba patola ratu woven in Prailiu about 30-years-ago
Richardson Collection
A quite unusual two-panel lau hiamba from Prailiu was acquired from Rambu Ranggambani, the wife of the current King of Kapunduk, Tamu Umbu Kudu Praibakul. Rambu Ranggambani was born in Lewa and was therefore not a weaver. The sarong was made around 50-years-ago and is decorated with the rare hiamba Roti motif, which is very similar to that used in the Umbu Diki Dongga textiles from Jangamanggu that were inspired by an Indian patola motif.
A lau hiamba made in Prailiu that was previously owned by the Kanatang noblewoman Rambu Ranggambani. Richardson Collection
One of the finest lau hiamba in our collection was made in kampong Mahananga, roughly 350 metres from Prailiu. It was made in 2000 by the late Rambu Ata Leu (or Ataleu), who despite being a commoner and a highly accomplished weaver was also a high-end textile dealer who specialised in very expensive, high-quality pieces.
The lau hiamba made by the late Rambu Ata Leu
Richardson Collection
An important centre for warp ikat and especially lau hiamba is kampong Kalu, located roughly one kilometre northwest of Prailiu. Here many families are still engaged in high-quality textile production today.
The patola ratu lattice is a popular Kalu design. The first example shown below was made 45 years ago by Rambu Taluki Wadja, a Kalu weaver who specialises in making ikat sarongs. The second is more recent, made about 25-years-ago.
Above: A lau hiamba made by Rambu Taluki Wadja in Kalu. Richardson Collection
Below: A lau hiamba made in Kalu roughly 25-years-ago. Richardson Collection
Another Kalu speciality is to combine the patola ratu design with the complex cross-shaped motif known as kambiha njara or horse's hoof print. The first example shown below was made almost 50-years-ago by the late Ndai Ngana, who died in about 1997 when she was aged in her 70s. It was acquired from her daughter, the previously mentioned Taluki Wadja. Apparently Ndai Ngana primarily produced hinggi men’s wrappers, but made this lau for her daughter, just before she was married at the age of 19. She is now aged 67.
The lau hiamba made by the late Ndai Ngana at her house in Kalu. Richardson Collection.
The second almost identical example was woven about 40-years-ago by Ndai Ngana’s daughter, Taluki Wadja, who was born in 1957. Unlike her mother, Taluki Wadja specialised in making lau hiamba. She made three of these identical sarongs at the same time. The first was used to dress her grandmother at the time of her funeral and the second was used to dress her mother at the time of her mother’s funeral.
Above: The lau hiamba made by Taluki Wadja. Richardson Collection
Below: Taluki Wadja holding her lau hiamba outside of her home in Kalu.
The third example from Kalu has been decorated with a more stylised version of the kambiha njara motif.
A fine lau hiamba from Kalu belonging to a local family
The next example from Kalu was also made by Taluki Wadja. It is a three panel lau hiamba decorated with columns of patola ratu combined with pairs of flying birds and pairs of prancing horses. The reverse has columns of more flying birds and swimming turtles.
The second lau hiamba made by Taluki Wadja. Richardson Collection
The final three-panel example from Kalu was made by Ina Hikka some 30-years-ago. She gifted it to her friend Rambu Tina when she married a man from kampong Yubuwai, located about 35km southeast of Waingapu. All three panels are identical, having a central morinda band with blue karihu (variously interpreted as butterfly or seashell) motifs, bordered by wider rust brown bands containing a geometric lattice of morinda and indigo eight-pointed stars.
The lau hiamba made by Ina Hikka
Richardson Collection
Mauliru (Haumara and Wukuramba)
Another strong centre for lau hiamba making is the district of Mauliru, located south of Waingapu’s Mau Hau airport. Much of the area is a flood plain watered by the Kambaniru River and has many paddy fields. The two most important warp ikat making kampongs are Haumara and Wukuramba.
The tiny settlement of Haumara is located in a cul-de-sac close to a bend in the Kambaniru River. One of the specialities of this kampong is the rare diamond-shaped buandaa motif. Segmented by a cross, its four sides are composed of rows of double-hooks.
The first example with this design was acquired from Rambu Mora Lambu in 2017. She was born in the small village of Ranu in Mauliru and moved to Haumara after marrying a man from that village. Sadly she died in 2018 at the age of 97. The two-panel lau hiamba was made by her mother in about 1930.
The lau hiamba made by the mother of Rambu Mora Lambu
Richardson Collection.
The second example was made by Rambu Mora Lambu herself in the late 1940s, several years after she was married. It is a two-panel sarong decorated with a lattice of buandaa motifs.
The lau hiamba made by the late Rambu Mora Lambu
Richardson Collection.
The final example from Haumara was designed by the master ikat binder Agustinus Bara Kilimandu for his sister-in-law, Ester Lika Lidja, in 2006. She owned the cotton yarns and gave them to Agustinus to draw the pattern. His brother and sister completed the binding, dyeing and weaving. Having worn the lau to important events and celebrations, she finally decided to sell it.
Agustinus is known to his friends as Ama Seli, meaning the father of Seli, his daughter. His extended family produce some of the finest ikat textiles and call themselves Kelompok Tenun Ikat Manandang, which means Beautiful Ikat Weaving Group.
The dominant pattern on the lau is a diagonal lattice composed of alternating longitudinal rows of black and red diamonds, each diamond filled by an eight-petalled floral motif. It is flanked on the other side with a longitudinal band of patola ratu motifs, mimicking the Gujarati chhabadi bhat flower basket motif.
The lau hiamba designed by Ama Seli at Haumara
Richardson Collection.
Adjacent to the Kambaniru River just south of Haumara is the important weaving centre of Wukuramba. Here weavers also bind the buandaa lattice pattern as seen in the following three-panel lau hiamba, produced around 50 years ago. In this example, each buandaa diamond encloses a habak motif, symbolising a mythical flower.
The lau hiamba made in Wukuramba some 50 years ago
Richardson Collection.
The second three-panel example was made in Wukuramba by Loda Nahgi in 1975. Each panel is indistinguishable, being decorated with three identical lateral bands of warp ikat. Each band has a large central X-shaped motif, bordered on one side with two elongated habak-like motifs, and bordered on the other with a diagonal lattice of complex cross-shaped motifs.
The lau hiamba made by Loda Nahgi in 1975
Richardson Collection.
The third example has two panels, only one of which is decorated with warp ikat. It was woven during the Dutch colonial period before the Japanese invasion of 1942, so is approximately 100-years-old.
The lower panel is dominated by a wide pictorial band of warp ikat, decorated with two naïve depictions of the investiture of Queen Wilhelmina, who succeeded her father, King William III, in 1890. However she was only invested later on 6 September 1898, a week after her eighteenth birthday. The Queen is shown on each side of the skirt wearing a tiara, necklace and sash and standing beside a decorated plinth supporting the royal crown topped with a cross. Although the crown and other royal regalia was displayed during her investiture, it was never worn and there was no coronation. To her left is the Dutch royal cloak lined and edged with ermine, the outer red velvet decorated with small crowned lions. Whilst Wilhelmina did have rather prominent ears, they have been unattractively exaggerated in this ikat representation.
This wide pictorial panel is flanked by a narrow upper band of ikat displaying the Dutch coat of arms with rampant crowned lions.
One unusual feature of the skirt is that the warps along one end of each panel have been twisted into a fringe before the ends of the panels have been joined to form a tube. This means that the finished side hem is embellished with a vertical twisted fringe. Lau decorted with fringes are decribed as lau nggeri.
The lau hiamba nggeri from Wukuramba
Richardson Collection.
Wangga
The small kampong of Wangga is located on the east bank of the Kambera River 3km south of Prailiu.
The following very fine lau hiamba, patterned with a diagonal lattice of small diamonds, was made 55 years ago by the late Rambu Luada Nangi. She belonged to the Karinding clan and died in April 2001. She made it for her daughter at the time of her marriage and was gifted as a kiri mbola, meaning ‘bottom of the basket’. Such items formed part of the dowry and were placed in the bottom of the basket (the mbola ngandi) in which the dowry was stored. The lau was acquired from the weaver’s granddaughter.
The lau hiamba made by the late Rambu Luada Nangi
Richardson Collection
Jangamangu
Janggamangu, or sometimes Jangga Mangu, is located 5km east of Umbu Mehang Kunda airport, just beyond Kawangu, on the main road to Melolo. It is close to Watumbaka, the only remaining village in Kambera where they produce the kalita palm leaf strips for binding ikat.
Janggamangu is the source of some unique and distinctive textiles that are quite unlike anything else produced on the island of Sumba. They are mostly inspired by the motifs found on a specific type of Indian double ikat silk patolu that was produced in Gujarat in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, if not earlier. Many seem to have been exported to mainland Southeast Asia and Indonesia by the Dutch VOC and their antecedents. However the inspiration for the weavers of Janggamangu was more likely a much cheaper block-printed cotton imitation of that same design of patolu, many of which have been found across the Indonesian Archipelago from Sumatra to Bali and the Lesser Sunda Islands.
Janggamangu came to prominence in the early twentieth century under the leadership of the formidable Umbu Diki Dongga. He was not a royal noble but was a wealthy, powerful and influential commoner (kabihu). Despite his lack of royal blood he was still addressed as Umbu – roughly translated as Sir or Lord.
Umbu Diki Dongga’s first wife came from the region of Mbatakapidu, just southwest of Waingapu town. At the time of her marriage to Umbu Diki Dongga, her mother gave her an Indian sari textile to place in her dowry basket, the mbola ngandi (literally: ‘basket take’) that every bride takes to her new family. This was apparently a fragment, not a complete sari (Hambuwali 2019). It is possible that it was part of an original silk patolu. However, it is more likely that it was part of an imitation cotton tradecloth that had been dyed with madder after being block-printed with the same pattern using an alum mordant. This is because the patolu motif was given the name patola kamba or cotton patola.
The design on this sari cloth was subsequently adopted as the family emblem. Umbu Diki Dongga’s wives distinguished themselves by producing lau hiamba with both panels bearing the new family insignia. They are known as lau hiamba patola kamba.
The example below was woven at Janggamanggu by Rambu Dai Ata Luda, the eldest daughter of Umbu Diki Dongga by his first wife. The family believe that she was born at some time during the 1910s. The lau hiamba was woven in the 1930s or 40s. She was a well-known and respected figure and was chosen to be the driver for President Sukharno when he visited Sumba. Many years later, Rambu Dai Ata Luda gifted this sarong to her granddaughter Juliana Atambu after she finished college in 2006. Rambu Dai Ata Luda died not long afterwards. Rambu Atambu is now a very senior Lutheran pastor.
The lau hiamba patola kamba made by Rambu Dai Ata Luda
Richardson Collection
Rambu Dai Ata Luda produced a number of sarongs with this design. One was gifted to the King or Karera when he visited Janggamanggu in the 1950s.
Some of the wives of Diki Dongga’s descendants wearing lau hiamba patola kamba
The second example with a modified design was made approximately 45 to 55 years ago for a member of the Diki Dongga family. It was acquired from Janggamangu many years ago by the late Rambu Babang Nati. Unfortunately, we do not know the name of the weaver because Babang Nati died some years ago, taking its history with her to the grave. It was acquired from her widower, Windy Takanjanji.
The lau hiamba patola kamba made at Janggamanggu in about 1975
Richardson Collection
In recent years there has been a revival in this pattern, which has been copied by many ikat producers in the Kambera region. Perhaps it is ironic that having copied the design of Gujarati weavers, the Diki Dongga family are angered that so many ikat binders have in turn copied their design, which in former times was exclusively restricted to their use.
However not every sarong from Janggamanggu was decorated with the patola kamba motif. The final example from this kampong was acquired from a local wealthy family who claimed that it was 65-years-old. It is indigo dyed and is decorated with bands of simple motifs, including scrolls and triangles. These are separated by two wider bands containing stylized cockerel motifs. The bottom of the lau has been embellished with old silver coins on both sides. There are five clusters of three small one tenth of a guilder coins dated 1937, 1938, 1941, 1942 and 1945, as well as a half guilder Queen Wilhelmina coin dated 1921 and a one guilder Queen Wilhelmina coin dated 1908. The coins are original because they have marked the cloth.
The indigo lau hiamba from Janggamanggu
Richardson Collection
Lambanapu
Lambanapu is located about 5½km south of Waingapu on the opposite side of the Kambera River from Wukuramba and close to the dam.
The following three-panel lau hiamba patola ratu was made by Jara Bunga in the kampong of Palu Marung, a hilltop hamlet of 30 households who moved up from Lambanapu during the Second World War. Because of their isolation, they have developed their own ikat styles. Jara Bunga died in 2018, aged in her 90s. The skirt was made around the time of her marriage to Dundu Tai, a farmer growing corn, so is probably almost 100-years-old. It was acquired from her grandson, Tai Hamba Ndima.
The lau hiamba patola ratu made by Jara Bunga
Richardson Collection
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Publication
This webpage was published on 20th November 2024.