A rare ritual textile of the Toraja, who live in central Sulawesi. The piece consists of two sewn together, hand-woven widths of light-coloured cotton. On this fabric, scenes and symbolic motifs were painted in dark plant colours. At the left and right is found on each side a circle, manifestly an animal pen in aerial view. In the right circle stands a man, in the left circle stand two people. They are attempting to herd the animals into both of the round pens: cows, a donkey, dogs, birds (chicken?). In both circles, a man holds a cow with a rope. Both scenes probably depict the selection of bulls to be offered up for an upcoming sacred buffalo sacrifice. Such ritual sacrifices are relatively common amongst the Toraja for a variety of occasions – in particular for their grand burial ceremonies. The central circle in the middle of this ceremonial cloth ‘Ma’a’ is difficult to interpret: the Toraja also have in their territory a number of old, round ‘stone circles’, with circular placements of large stones (like menhirs). These stone circles are intended as graves of their ancestors, and sacred ceremonies also take place at these places. Perhaps the painted circle in the centre of our ‘Ma’a’ symbolises such a stone circle of the ancestors, in which a buffalo sacrifice (with the buffaloes from left and right) could take place. Additionally, in this painting two flower motifs, as well as series of circles and a variety of crosses, are depicted. According to the scholarship, the cross-form should represent ‘stars in the night sky’ amongst the Toraja. A vertical series of painted triangles concludes the left border of this ritual textile. This is called ‘Tumpal’ motif and is frequently used as border in Indonesian textiles. The ‘Tumpal’ motif originates in the old, southeast Asian Dong Son culture (800 B.C. - 200 A.D.). The ritual textiles, ‘Ma’a’, are hung up in the houses of the Toraja during ceremonial, sacred gatherings. For every Toraja house (with roof in the form of a ship) has a separate ‘profane’ and ‘sacred’ area. See also cat. no. 211. The present ‘Ma’a’ painting is a rare, old piece, with some minor age damage (small holes). Dimensions: c. 61 cm x 206 cm. First half of the 20th century or earlier. (ME)

Provenance: Austrian Private Collection.

Lit.: ‘Traditional Indonesian Textiles' by John Gillow, fig. 148.