Textiles of Southeast Asia. Robyn Maxwell
173.0 x 73.0 em Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Leiden 427-26
There is remarkable similarity in the technique and design of these two nineteenth-century fabrics although they were woven on different islands and with different thread. Little is known about the function of either textile since a knowledge of the supplementary warp technique appears to have died out in these areas during the last century and very few extant examples of these textiles remain. However, this technique is still practised in isolated regions of eastern Indonesia. The red, white and blue-black colour combinations are also similar for both textiles, although the black patterns have been painted on to the white supplementary warp bands of the Benuaq textile, said to be a skirtcloth (Jager Gerlings, 1952: Fig. 17).
(detail) hom non woman's skirt Kisar, south Maluku, Indonesia handspun cotton, natural dyes warp ikat 125.0 x 130.0 em Australian National Gallery 1985.382
This woman's cylindrical skirt is woven from fine blue, red and natural handspun cotton thread. The many key designs are carefully arranged in narrow bands. The textiles of the islands in south Maluku (south Moluccas) are often woven from other materials, including the fibres of lontar palm-leaves (a substance also widely used as a binding thread for warp ikat throughout Southeast Asia). This example probably dates from the early twentieth century.
lamba mena (?) shroud; canopy; room-divider Sakalava people, west Madagascar raffia fibre, natural dyes warp ikat Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Lei den 4927-5
Early in the first millenium AD, sailors from the Indonesian archipelago had already begun to roam the Asian world in pursuit of trade and adventure. The contacts and settlements that resulted also left their mark on the culture of the island of Madagascar. The language is Austronesian, and the textile arts reflect those of Borneo from where prehistorians suggest the voyages originated. This provides additional evidence for the antiquity of complex warp ikat in the Southeast Asian region. Some Madagascar banded warp ikat patterns include stylized human figures, although the dyes available there produce different shades of brown from those found in Southeast Asia, and yellow is a prominent colour. The fibre used in this nin eteenth-century example is obtained from the leaves of the Raphia palm. The main function of these large cloths as shrouds (lamba mena; red or colourful cloths) may also reflect their Southeast Asian ancestry (Mack, 1987: 76-80).
HARD FABRICS: THE AMBIGUITY OF BEADS AND SHELLS
Garments often became objects of significance when highly valued items were attached to twining, bark-cloth, woven fibres, and plain or decorated cotton cloth. Miniature bells, shells and beads have been used since prehistoric times to enliven the appearance of fabrics and increase their value. Beads, in particular, have been an important form of jewellery in almost every culture in Southeast Asia. As well as necklaces, bracelets and anklets, they have been threaded into head-bands, belts and other articles of display. In fact, many beaded gar ments are an extension or an elaboration of jewellery, and in rare cases a decorative fabric for festive wear is composed entirely of beads.
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Shells have been a primary form of decoration since Neolithic times throughout Southeast Asia, and the earliest recorded beads were made from shells, stone and clay, though probably other natural objects such as seeds were also used. Job's tears, seeds from a type of tropical grass, ornament the tunics and shirts of the Karen and Akha women of northern Thailand and seeds are also used to decorate fab-ric in New Guinea and Mindanao.31 Small nassa shells, widely used as decoration by both mountain and coastal dwellers, are slit so they can be stitched easily on to fabric with twine or cotton. In the western regions, the Naga people decorate men's shawls and loincloths with stark, white, shell figures and circles on dark, warp-striped, cotton fabric. By the Metal Age decoration included glass, gold and stones such as carnelian, which may have been among the oldest objects to arrive in the region from India.32 Shells and ancient beads are still valued as heirlooms and trade items in many cultures, and as objects to be fixed to garments for ceremonial occasions, although the natural fibres used to thread them have gradually been replaced by cotton and nylon. So highly valued are beads and shells that they have become the subject of legends, a major form of currency and a source of wealth.
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Metaphorically, beads and shells are 'hard' objects, sometimes classified like ivory, metal jewellery and weaponry as 'male'. Opposed to this category are those complementary objects regarded as 'female' and 'soft'. These include textiles as the most significant item made by women, although when beads are worn as garments and attached to textiles, they may also be classified as female. As bead and shell appliqué requires the work of both sexes the creation of these objects symbolically links both the male and female realms. The role of men in making or acquiring shell discs and beads is complementary to the exclusively female activities of thread preparation and weaving. Among the Dayak peoples shell and bead appliqué is sometimes coordinated with men drawing the designs and women threading the beads. On Mindanao pearly shell discs made from larger shells require holes to be drilled by men before they can be attached to clothing by women. In the case of the Naga it is the woman who weaves, while the man who wears the shell-decorated wrap signifying his martial successes, sews the white shell discs to the prepared fabric (Femenias, 1984: 50-1). In rare situations, as among the Toraja where beading is also performed by men,33 the objects might be viewed as jewellery rather than clothing. Men are the workers of jewellery, especially metal objects, throughout the whole of the Southeast Asian region (Rodgers, 1985).
ceremonial man's jacket Ayatal people, Taiwan vegetable fibre, shells supplementary warp weave, twill weave, twining 48.0 x 88.0 em Australian National Gallery 1988.639
The Austronesian-speaking peoples include the indigenous inhabitants of the island of Taiwan and prehistorians have concluded that the ancestors of many of today's Southeast Asians migrated from that region thousands of years ago. Many similarities remain between the arts of the various indigenous peoples of Taiwan and their Southeast Asian neighbours (Feldman, 1985). This long nineteenth-century jacket is constructed from hemp fabric woven on a body-tension loom. The bands of simple supplementary warp patterning are in red and brown, while the foundation weave is in finer white thread with a strong twined trim. The garment is a high status object, decorated with many strands of slit-shell discs that were used in ceremonial exchange (Barbier and Newton, 1988: 344- 5).
woman's jacket Akha people, north Thailand handspun cotton, natural dyes, Job's tears seeds appliqué, patchwork 133.0 x 66.0 cm Australian National Gallery 1986.1246
The indigo blue cotton jackets of the Yer Tung Akha display multicolured patchwork and stitching in linear rows of triangles, diamonds and rectangles. The angularity of the patterns is similar to those found on Hmong batik. Some jackets are decorated with rows of seeds, shells, beads, bells and coins. Job's tears seeds were once reserved for the jackets of older women, and these were donned by new brides only after modest public displays of 'reluctance'. Similarly, a young woman may wear a white skirt at her marriage celebrations, although this is regarded as a sign of great authority normally reserved for knowledgeable and mature Akha women (Nabholz-Kartaschoff, 1985: 162). This example dates from the mid-twentieth century.
kaya bé; baju bé woman's tunic Toraja people, Kalumpang region, central Sulawesi, Indonesia cotton, shells, beads, felt pieces appliqué 73.0 x 43.0 cm Australian National Gallery 1984.3174
The white shells, red cloth appliqué and bindings, and the black cotton ground on the Kalumpang woman's ceremonial tunic reflect the fundamental tricolours of the Toraja world.