Whitworth Art Gallery
`Cepuk’ (to meet something face to face with divine powers)
T.15045
Produced: Late 19th century
Made in Bali
248 x 80cm
Originating in Indonesia and made for ritualistic purposes, decorated with `weft ikat’ patterning including arrowheads on both sides of the cloth representing the teeth of a protective spirit `gigi barong’.
Produced from resist-dyed cotton, usually dyed in four colours plus white, the `Cepuk’ may be worn as either a skirt by both the living and the dead due to its protective qualities, or may also be used as a hanging in both temples and shrines.
There is one workshop in Denpasar that is still producing `Cepuk‘ today, whilst art shops in Kuta and Sanur have been known to uncover hidden `Cepuk’, sometimes to be traded with antiquities.
The `Cepuk‘ was a gift to the museum from Lady Barlow in 1970 via the Fitzwilliam Museum at the University of Cambridge.
