Kachin Pukhang or Festival Skirt

Deep reds and blacks, with yellow zigzags that run like lightning.

Jinghpaw women of Kachin State, Burma, wove this pukhang, or festival skirt, in wool in the 20th century. Kachin festival skirts are commonly worn on ceremonial occasions, with patterned bands that signal community and craft. The cloth has a dark center stripe, a field of small red and blue diamond motifs, and bands of yellow stepped zigzags at the borders. The red is deep and saturated, the whole richly textured.

About fifty-five inches long. Flat on a wall, it looks like a painting in woven form.