Men's ceremonial waist cloth

This rare nineteenth-century textile was used as a men's ceremonial waistcloth in Aceh, the northernmost province of Sumatra. Similar
textiles were exported from Aceh to Kelantan, Malaysia, where they also became a part of ceremonial dress.

This textile has a cotton weft and a silk warp; in a technique known as ikat the threads were tie-dyed before weaving such that a pattern was created as the cloth was woven. The textile shown here has a simple palette of natural dyes—primarily a deep red, browns, and beige. The ikat dyework produces a shifting pattern of shimmering beige against the red background.

Aceh was one of the first areas in the Indonesian archipelago to convert to Islam, and the Acehnese are known for their strong devotion to this religion. Gravestones and early travelers' accounts indicate the presence of local converts in the late 1200s. An independent sultanate was formed in the 1400s, and the Acehnese continued to fight for independence after Dutch colonization and Indonesian independence. The devastating tsunami of 2004 brought the territory of Aceh to the world's attention.