Ceremonial Cloth

Made by Chinese people living in Sumatra.

Turquoise silk cloth with an overlaid purple centre panel and a looping gold filament border stitched on around the edge. The top surface of the runner-like cloth is covered with a decorative hand embroidery of mixed gold and copper filaments attached in a couching-technique known as stumping, with the resultant cross hatching of the ivory coloured thread covering the under surface. Cloth has long twined strands that hang out beneath metal fringe at both ends.