Dating asian antique embroidery, altar piece?

Hello everyone,

Got this piece from a monk. They got it as a gift long time ago in the Netherlands.

They thought it might be an old altar piece.

Does anyone know how old it might be and what it is worth?

The pictures where too large so I put them in Drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/10-uUcbfTnO91rBBp6TJOJFsU2niVIzMO

Thanks for your ideas!
I am always happy to learn something about a piece from history.

Lianne

 

Welcome/welkom Lian. For future reference, it is best if your photos are below 1mb, preferably 640 x 480k.

It is a beautiful handmade cloth, and it looks like a Peranakan altar cloth to me. My guess is early 20th century.

The Peranakan are also known as Straits Chinese. They are descendants of Chinese merchants and craftspeople who settled along the sea straits of Southeast Asia, so Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore. Many of these Chinese married or set up households with local women.
Peranakan culture is a mix of Chinese and Malay. Their spiritual beliefs follow the Chinese traditions.

Was he a Catholic monk, or a Buddhist one?

 

Thanks so much for your insights! Nice to learn about the background.

Got it from a Catholic monk, but they had guests from all over

 

You're welcome, Lian.

Catholic monks are everywhere and get guests from everywhere.

 

@Shangas

 

This is Indonesian

 

The penny dropped. My penny, that is.
I think it is Sumatran, and probably part of a wedding curtain or a hanging for a bridal bed.
Possibly Minangkabau, if that partly seen winged creature is the Minangkabau cockrel.

I had a hard time recognizing motifs, since everything is cut off in the photos, so my autopilot thought "gold embroidery on red = Peranakan". Autopilot was wrong.

 

I hope this shows, a Minangkabau bride and attendants, gold embroidered silk in the background. It is something in this vein:


https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/cloth-and-custom-in-west-sumatra/