A finely woven woman’s skirt associated with Tai-speaking communities of northern Laos and northwestern Vietnam.
The textile is constructed in three distinct sections with a red cotton waistband, a dark indigo body enlivened with subtle horizontal striping, and an intricately patterned lower panel. The restrained palette of indigo, cream, ochre and red gives the skirt an unusually graphic quality.
The lower register is filled with diamonds, stepped triangles, hooked forms and highly abstracted animal-like motifs. Such imagery belongs to a broader Tai textile vocabulary in which geometric forms can evoke serpents or naga, birds, fertility and other protective or auspicious symbols. Their repetition around the hem creates a visually dense border at the point where the garment meets the ground.
Sourced in Vietnam, the skirt reflects the closely related textile traditions shared across the mountainous borderlands of northern Laos and northwestern Vietnam.
Size: 2' x 3'
Age: Mid 20th Century
Origin: Northern Vietnam/ Laos
Type of Textile: Tai Textile Panel
Material: Cotton, supplementary weft patterning, natural indigo
Condition: Good. Some stains on the fabric. Wear and areas of missing and discolored (stained) threads
TX726
