Batak Ragidup or Ritual Cloth

A field of electric blue, scribbled with pale zigzags.

Toba Batak weavers of Sumatra, Indonesia, made this ragidup, or ritual cloth, in cotton in the 20th century. Cloths of this kind are traditionally exchanged in family ceremonies and valued as gifts. The central panel is a saturated royal blue, crossed by narrow, jagged horizontal bands of lighter thread. Dark navy bands frame both sides, and a narrow decorative strip sits at each end above black fringe. The cotton hangs with a quiet, even drape.

About 70 by 34 inches. Steadier in a hallway than it sounds.