Miao batik panel

Woven Textile

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BLUE: The TATTER Textile Library

Name/Title

Miao batik panel

Entry/Object ID

2024.9.39

Description

Long woven indigo-dyed hemp panel with various curvilinear and bird batik resist-dyed motifs.

Textile Type

Batik

Use

Potentially used as head wrap.

Context

This panel uses a batik resist-dyeing technique, which originated among the Miao people from China. This technique involves painting motifs onto fabric using wax and a wooden knife-like tool called a ladao, dying the fabric, and then melting off the wax resist to reveal the design. The woven cloth, usually hemp, is colored using natural indigo dye. Darker shades of blue are achieved by dying the cloth more than 20 times over a period of two weeks. Once the desired shade has been reached, the cloth is boiled to remove the wax. Miao people do not have their own written language, so their textile motifs serve as a way to document their history by representing daily life, religion, and the natural environment.

Category

Weaving

Acquisition

Accession

2024.9

Acquisition Method

Purchase

Made/Created

Time Period

20th Century

Place

Country

China

Continent

Asia

Woven Textile Details

Textile Shape

Panel

Ethnography

Cultural Region

Country

China

Continent

Asia

Culture/Tribe

Miao People, Hmong

Lexicon

Getty AAT

Concept

batik, resist dyeing, indigo (colorant), weaving

Dimensions

Height

8-1/2 in

Length

95 in

Material

Hemp, Indigo Dye

Color

Indigo, Blue, White

Location

Box

Box 50

Cabinet

Object Cabinet

Room

Studio

Research Notes

Research Type

Researcher

Person

Ellie Nowak

Date

2024

Notes

https://textilesocietyofamerica.org/6323/womens-writing-miao-batik https://www.artworkarchive.com/profile/sjmqt/artwork/hmong-meo-skirt https://www.ockpoptok.com/blog/hmong-batik-techniques-stories/