Purple Silk Lawan

This Lowan textile was made in Indonesia in the early 20th century. These textiles are handwoven silk that is dyed using a unique resist technique called tritik; the process creates a distinct rectangular pattern in the center of the textile.

Lowan textiles became popular in the West during the modernist art movement, because of the similarities between their designs and the abstract minimalist work of the artist  Mark Rothko. The Brooklyn Museum of Art has a similar piece in its collection.