Object Name: Head cloth (kain tangkuluak)
Cultural Group: Minangkabau peoples
Place of Origin: Pariangan, West Sumatra Province, Indonesia, 19th century
Materials Used: Silk, gold-wrapped thread, ramie
Credit Line and Accession Number: X97.50.57; Gift of Anne and John Summerfield

Not Currently On View in Intersections

The 5.5 million Minangkabau, who reside in the highlands of West Sumatra, constitute a distinctive cultural group. Minangkabau women have produced some of the finest weavings ever made in Indonesia, especially songket cloths made of silk- and gold-wrapped thread. The head cloth displayed here would have been folded and wrapped into an elegant three-cornered headdress. Both cloths would have been worn especially as ritual wear for adat ceremonies.

Gallery text, Intersections: World Arts, Local Lives, 2006

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