Two bark cloth textiles (exact provenance unknown) are looking to be rehomed. Their owner, Anne Arlidge, describes:
“This cloth was bought by my mother in the late 1920s or early 1930s. She was travelling back to China, and I know she stopped in Java as I found among her photos an almost identical picture to that which I took about five years ago. She went on to stay with her brother who was working in Fiji, and she may have also stopped in Korea, as I found a postcard to another brother from there.
We have lived and worked in Asia for some years and so have our own collection of textiles. From 1947 the cloth hung for some years in our hall. It was then put in the loft and not much disturbed until 40 years ago, when my husband and I explored up there. They were returned to rest there until last year when we sold the house.
There are two pieces, one shown here (1.85 x 1.20m) and the other, longer and with simpler decoration (0.77 x 3.35m), which I have lost the image of and is carefully wrapped for storage. We have no idea of the value of these bark pieces; they may only be useful for study, but perhaps not even that as they are so fragile.”
If you are interested in these textiles, please send a message to the OATG blogger using the contact form, and I will forward it on to Anne Arlidge.
Oxford Asian Textile Group blog 