For centuries, Lampung, a little-known region in southern Sumatra, Indonesia, was home to a glorious textile tradition which flourished until the early part of the 20th century. Authentic Lampung textiles are therefore at least a century old, with some much older.
Among the most handsome of Lampung textiles are the tube skirts known as tapis. The tapis is a large rectangular cloth made of two or more panels sewn together into a tube and elaborately embroidered. Embroidery is unique to Lampung tapis and distinguishes them from women’s tube dresses elsewhere in Indonesia.
Several styles of tapis exist; the most archaic ones feature animistic designs that are forbidden by Islam to be depicted in art. The two tapis examples below are of the “pre-Islamic” type. Both feature abstract human figures and mythical animals exquisitely embroidered on the cotton (ikat) base. It has been suggested that the image of mythical animals with riders is a symbol of rites of passage of an individual moving from one social or spiritual state to another. Such symbolism on tapis is consistent with and analogous to the ship imagery in other “primitive” Lampung textiles, such as the ceremonial palepai. The use of luminous materials such as silk or gold threads for embroidery combined with the typically dark cotton background of deep blue, rust brown, or red imparts vitality and a pleasing aesthetics to the design of Lampung tapis. That the last tapis were made in the early 20th century only adds to the mystique of these iconic and beautiful textiles.
Most Lampung skirts are non-pictorial and reflect the dominant influence of Islam in Sumatra. This above textile, however, embodies an earlier animistic tradition found in many other parts of pre-Islamic Indonesia – the belief in a tripartite cosmos in which spirits, both protective and malevolent coinhabit with man. Here, animistic designs are embroidered by metal couching on to a cotton base dyed in red and beige. Two wide bands feature abstract human figures, standing or riding on mythical animals including out-sized roosters while two smaller bands incorporate abstract birds and elephants. The overall design and colors give this rare textile a pleasing and whimsical aesthetic. Such an elaborate tube skirt would have been worn by aristocratic women during weddings and title ceremonies as symbols of status and wealth.
The next featured tapis is known as tapis inuh and employ a style that is rare in Southeast Asia. The distinctive features are the embroidered silk bands which appear to“float” over a cotton ikat base.
In this example, two broad embroidered bands enclose a third narrower one. The broad bands depict integrated scenes of ships, manned by people wearing feathered head dresses that project like the rays of the sun. The subjects of ships, spirit figures and at times, trees (signifying life) originate from a very distant past, and bear an uncanny resemblance to the art of the Dongson culture centred at the Red River Valley of northern Vietnam from 1000 BC until the first century AD.
Further study
For more background information on the traditional culture of Lampung, see https://www.artoftheancestors.com/lampung