Old Ceremonial Balinese Brocade Damask Wedding Songket Belt. Burgundy Red Textile cloth Embroidered with Metallic Gold Threads 60" x 9" (SG23) Collected in Klunkung Regency, Bali & belonging to Nobility royalty

Collected in the Klungkung Regency, Bali

OVER 60 YEARS OLD

 In perfect condition for its age, no holes, no tears

We have sold these pieces in the $1,000.00's in the past. We are looking to retire and are starting to liquidate what is left in our private collection, accumulated over 35 years. 

 This old entirely hand embroidered hand woven Traditional Wedding Metallic Brocade has gold embroidery motifs on a very finely woven dyed with natural pigments background. Older piece in good condition (for its age), like this one, were hard to find from the mid 1900’s on. Gorgeous coloration & very fine delicate weave and extensive gold embroideries & minute designs woven in metallic thread on a rich colored background.

 Songket is a fabric that belongs to the family of brocade textiles. It is hand woven in silk or cotton, and intricately patterned with gold or silver threads. The metallic threads stand out against the background cloth to create a shimmering effect. In the weaving process the metallic threads are inserted in between the silk or cotton weft (latitudinal) threads. The term songket comes from the Malay Indonesian word sungkit, which means "to hook". It has something to do with the method of songket making; to hook and pick a group of threads, and then slip the gold threads in it. The word menyongket means "to embroider with gold or silver threads".

Songket is a luxury product traditionally worn during ceremonial occasions as sarong, shoulder cloths or head ties. Tanjak or Songket headdresses were worn at the courts of the Malay Sultanates and nobility. Traditionally women and adolescent girls wove songket and traditionally-patterned textiles embodied a system of interpretable emblems to the few that were able to create them and wear them. 

Few costumes in the world have the dignified elegance of the ceremonial costume of a noblewoman: the underskirt dragging on the ground in a train of silk and gold; the torso, bound from the hips to the armpits; first is a strong bulang, a strip of cloth covered by a sabuk, another strip of silk overlaid, and gold leaf and gold plugs through her ears.

All our collector and rare items come with pages and pages of research about provenance, and with history of the tribes and photos as well, depending on item and whenever possible.  When shipping internationally, we group ship multiple purchases to save you money, and find the best rates available. Let us know if you have any questions or want to see research conducted on this piece and photos of tribes.