Descriptions

The upper body and sleeves of this jacket is dyed true indigo cotton. The lower part jacket is dyed red dog’s hair or goat’s hair. Below the cross seam the jacket is edged with vertical blue and yellow zigzags, whilst the edge of the actual jacket is piped with white tape. As the donor information is unavailable for this jacket, details of its exact provenance are unknown.

However, an almost identical jacket (1934.81.95) is documented in the Pitt Rivers Museum Collection as being Kachin Lhaovo (Maru), Ngawchang Valley, Lower Nmai River, Kachin State. Dr Dudley notes that the Pitt River jacket was documented by James Henry Green as ‘very scarce at the time of collection in the 1920s’. An example of this jacket is documented in ‘Textiles from Burma’ (Dell 2003:21). Photographic evidence of a similar jacket is also documented in the James Henry Green Collection – A0096.

Information that has been collated about the Kachin Lhaovo (Maru) jackets highlights the significance of these textiles. They have been described as rare and scarce, and Dr Dudley described them as ‘special jackets and it is exciting for me to know that the RAMM has them’ (Pers. Comm. 2005). Their contribution to the Burmese collection at Exeter, and the understanding of Burmese textiles as a whole cannot be understated.

This object is on display at RAMM in the World Cultures gallery.