Bag

This hand woven bag was made for Brighton Museum by Gwi Kai Nan in Myitkyina, Kachin State, Burma in 2001-2 and would be carried by a man. It is part of a full wedding outfit made using designs associated with the Jinghpaw Hkahku, one of the Kachin ethnic groups.

The designs on the bag have been copied exactly from a bag that has been in Gwi Kai Nan's husband's family for more than four generations, making it more than 100 years old. It is the same design as a bag collected by James Henry Green in Kachin State in the 1920s [WAG000003 - also in Brighton Museum's collection]. In an interview recorded for the Kachin textile project, Gwi Kai Nan talks about the designs on this bag. The dragon motif design in the centre is considered one of the most difficult to reproduce and is rarely seen today. She said that traditionally this kind of bag would have been carried by a Kachin chief. Today it can be carried by anyone who can afford to have it made.