Papua New Guinean Ceremonial Dance Skirt, Based

Looped rings and long tabs, made to swing when the wearer moved.

This ceremonial dance skirt comes from the West Highlands of Papua New Guinea, made by the Melpa people in the early 20th century of hemp and pigment, now mounted on a base. Highland peoples there dress with great care for dances and ceremonial exchanges, where adornment announces a person's strength and the prosperity of the group. A looped waistband in pink and pale blue sits above a row of orange and yellow triangles. Long pale tabs alternate with chains of looped rings, some yellow, some lavender. Twenty-three and a half inches high.

It stands still now, on a base. It was not made for that.