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The primary motif on this Amanuban textile is an abstract representation of an ancestor in animal form. It can be interpreted as a turtle, monkey or a frog. A turtle is attributed with possessing specific powers. The animal may also depict a crocodile which symbolises Uis Neno: a supreme being, Lord of Heaven and God of the Water. In a front claw or paw the creature clutches a chicken, a sacrificial animal.

 

Secondary motifs include stylised birds and the geometric rhomb. Anthropomorphic motifs are a legacy of the animist Atoni religion originally practised in West Timor.

 

Mau ana – men’s shoulder cloth, tenun ikat (dyed cotton), Amanuban, West Timor

Kindly lent by Kadar and Anton Lucas