Textiles of Southeast Asia. Robyn Maxwell
of inland mountain valleys, split shells and beads were traded into the hinterlands of Southeast Asia where they were used to decorate ceremonial garments worn by the local nobility. For most of this century at least, imported milled black cotton fabric appears to have been used as the base cloth for many appliqué decorated garments.
A Toraja schoolteacher dancing at a family wedding in the Kalumpang district of central Sulawesi wears a kaya bé decorated with shell appliqué, with a nine-metre-long skirtcloth edged with braid (kundai pamiring), a beaded shoulder-sash (kamandang or seke), and a Javanese batik sash for dancing (kembe). Informants pointed out that this cloth should have been a sarita or a mawa, both prestige heirloom imported textiles in this region. She also wears an elaborate horn-shaped head-dress of bamboo, brass and feathers known as tanduk rembé.
kandauré beaded neck-piece; ceremonial object Sa'dan Toraja people, central Sulawesi, Indonesia beads, cotton beading, tablet weaving, plaiting 40.0 x 121.0 cm Australian National Gallery 1983.3688
This early twentieth-century example is threaded with yellow, black, red, white, blue and turquoise beads. The key-shaped motif known as pa' sekong (spiral motif), which is widely used in Toraja art, appears below a row of small white human figures. This large spiral shape is also known as pa 'kandauré after its prominent use on these beaded objects. The red and blue diamond-patterned cotton band at the top of the object is produced by a tablet weaving technique and a plaited braid completes the lower edge. Kandauré appear to symbolize abundance and splendour and are worn at many ceremonies by dancers with the long strands of beads tied in front across the breasts and the cylinders hanging down the women's backs. They are also hung from tall poles at funerals and from clan houses at the merok ceremonies that maintain a family's well-being. On these occasions the kandauré are hung so that the small beaded human figures appear upright at the neck, perhaps indicating a more ancient function for these beaded objects.
A young Maloh woman in west Kalimantan beading a band for a woman's skirt (kain lekok)
sapé buri ceremonial jacket Maloh people, west Kalimantan, Indonesia cotton, split shells appliqué 46.0 x 51.0 cm Australian National Gallery 1982.1298
kain manik woman's ceremonial skirt Maloh people, west Kalimantan, Indonesia cotton, beads warp ikat, appliqué, beading 46.0 x 55.0 cm Australian National Gallery 1982.1303
Maloh women make jackets and skir ts in a number of styles using bead (manik) and shell (buri or parus) appliqué. This fully beaded skirt has yellow human figures (kakalétau) between black water serpents (naga), appearing in stylized form in the upper and lower bands. Within Maloh iconography, the kakaletau represent guardian and ancestor spirits. On occasions, the slaves who were owned by the Maloh ruling class (samagat) were sacrificial victims and, significantly, the figures on this skirt are placed near the mouth of the water serpent. The motifs on the shell appliqué jacket are also arranged in bands with the kakalétau motif flanked by creatures that seem to be a playful rendition of the dog motif (asu). The base fabric for both the skirt and the jacket is black with a red trim, although the fabric used as a lining for the skirt is a faded Iban warp ikat skirt (kain kebat). Both objects date from the twentieth century.
In Mindanao, a Bilaan man drills holes in small shell discs which are to be sewn in decorative patterns on clothing: an early twentieth-century photograph.
umpak (?) woman's shirt Bilaan people, Mindanao, Philippines cotton, dyes, shell pieces embroidery, appliqué 112.0 x 33.0 cm Australian National Gallery 1986.2119
Drilled shell discs (kalatz) are a subsidiary decorative device on this heavily embroidered blouse. On other Bilaan garments, they are the sole decorative material. Commercial cotton fabric, black for the body and red for the sleeves, has been used as the basis for the elaborate yellow, red, black and white cross-stitch work and has replaced the earlier gauze-like abaca fibre cloth called sinamay. Early twentieth century
dàgom shirt Kulaman people, Mindanao, Philippines cotton, beads appliqué 121.0 x 40.0 cm Australian National Gallery 1984.1226
The white seed-bead decoration on this mid-twentieth-century blue cotton blouse with red trim follows older patterns that were executed with small, split-shell discs. Other examples of this type of garment may have a base-cloth of imported handspun cotton or of dark locally woven abaca.
Bagobo women decorating bags and bands with fine beads, and wearing warp ikat, abaca-fibre skirts. The photograph was taken at a turn-of-the-century trade exposition at St Louis, USA.
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Beads embellish and enrich many objects: jackets and skirts, mats and hangings, and accessories such as belts, bags, boxes and bands. On Borneo ingenious beaded items abound amongst the various Dayak peoples and beads decorate Dayak head-pieces, seat-mats and baby-carriers. Ornamental appliqué of various other materials including animal teeth, coins and bronze bells are also added to these objects. While the baby-carriers are among the most complex beaded items of the Kayan (Sheppard, 1978: 91), probably the most spectacular Borneo headwork of all is made by the Maloh women of the upper Kapuas River in west Kalimantan where it covers the surface of the base garment or is applied in narrow decorative bands Q.R. Maxwell, 1980).
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Maloh skirts and sleeveless jackets are decorated with realistic and formalized images, and contain important messages about Maloh social structure, legends and trade. These appliqué garments combine many precious foreign and heirloom items, including beads, shells, Dutch coins and brass bells (made either by Chinese or Maloh craftsmen). The base fabric of these garments often consists of warp ikat cloth made by the neighbouring Iban and obtained through trade by the non-weaving Maloh. The beaded motifs encompass dangerous designs from Maloh cosmology, including the mythical serpent and the ancestor or guardian spirits. Other motifs symbolize the solid prosperity of Maloh society: the hearthstone and certain animals that are an important source of food. The success and status of a family and its social position is indicated by the wearing of such finery on ritual occasions.
women's dance aprons Doreri district, Kepala Burung (Bird's Head) and Cenderawasih Bay region, Irian Jaya, Indonesia beads, fibre thread, commercial cotton cloth beading 52.0 x 52.0 em 71.5 x 57.5 cm Australian National Gallery 1986.1251; 1986.2456
Although little is known about these beaded objects from Irian Jaya, they are used worn tied around a dancer's waist by women of the Bird's Head and Cenderawasih (formerly Geelvink) Bay areas (D. Fassey, personal communication, 1985). The use of green beads is a striking feature of the design of one of these aprons which is divided into a grid of asymmetrically matched triangles and squares, suggestive of the patterns used for body painting and carving across a wider area of New Guinea, and in many Austronesian cultures.
A stylized anthropomorphic or reptile figure in bold black and white dominates the design of another apron. The figure itself is filled with intricate lozenge shapes, repeated in larger versions on either side of the central motif in blue, green, yellow, and orange