This is a beautifully patterned cotton and silk wrap-skirt known as a hta-mein. Dating to before 1855, it would have been worn by a fashionable Burmese woman on festive occasions. She would have worn it overlapping slightly in the front, revealing a portion of her leg as she walked. It would have formed an ensemble, with a fitted jacket, open in front, known as an ein-gyi, under which she would have worn a yinzi (breast cloth). Typical of hta-mein, the central area is the focus of decorative interest and displays the unique '100 shuttles' interlocking tapestry weave known in Burmese as acheik-luntaya in lime, navy, yellow and white on a coral background. From this flows a striped coral train--the graceful management of which would have been an acquired skill. Composed of three parts. A red cotton waistband joined to a strip of coral silk textile with over three pattern repeats of eight different rows of acheik (horizontal wave patterns) with checkered end borders in lime, navy, yellow and white to which is attached a separately woven coral silk train of two pieces sewn together half worked with a pattern of narrow stripes repeating the colours of the acheik panel and half woven with white to create a silvery effect. The components are hand stitched together and lined with white and for the train red cotton. Burmese red cotton and multi-coloured silk hta-mein. Konbaung Dynasty (1752-1885). ca. 1850. Acheik-luntaya patterned area.