Tetum people
East Timor or west Timor, Indonesia  

Mangle for seeding cotton [ai ledu] early 20th century
wood
56.2 (h) x 45.4 (w) x 10.2 (d) cm
Gift of Robyn, John and Simeran Maxwell through the Australian Government Cultural Gifts Program 2010
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
NGA 2010.124.A-B

On Timor, textiles are traditionally woven using locally grown cotton, handspun on drop spindles. Wooden mangles remove the seeds from bolls of sun-dried raw cotton. This decorative instrument is adorned with squatting figures, possibly ancestral weavers who passed their craft down through generations. It is also embellished with the intricate hooked lozenge motifs prominent on Timorese textiles and sculpture. The ornamentation suggests that the mangle was once used by a great weaver from a ruling family.