Indonesian Songket Selendang or Shoulder Cloth

Faded red with pink flushes, and ornament packed into dense lozenges.

Weavers of Karangasem, Bali, Indonesia, made this songket selendang, or shoulder cloth, in cotton and silk in the early to mid 20th century. Songket is commonly woven with supplementary metallic threads for ceremonial dress. The ground is a blushed, sun-warmed red. Rows of diamond-shaped motifs fill the body in pale gold, with wider decorative bands at each end. The surface looks worn and delicately thinned in places, as old silk does.

About sixty by twenty inches. Not for everyday, but a beautiful thing to look at.