Textiles of Southeast Asia. Robyn Maxwell
warp and is typical of the textiles of the Molo district in central-west Timor, from which the narrow belt and head-piece in Plate 144 may have come. Many of these Timorese tapestry weave items, such as those illustrated here, are predominantly red, the colour associated with bravery and warriors in many parts of Southeast Asia. Other colours are typically white, orange, yellow and black. Early twentieth century
A woman in the Amanuban domain of central-west Timor plaiting a decorative tie for an Atoni ceremonial bag or piece of regalia. She uses smooth stones as weights to provide simple even tension.
royal horse blanket Tetum people, south Belu region, Timor, Indonesia handspun cotton, silk, natural dyes, kapok supplementary weft wrapping, warp ikat, quilting 104.0 x 215.0 cm Australian National Gallery 1989.846
lafa ina horse blanket Rotinese people, Roti, Indonesia handspun cotton, natural dyes warp ikat 179.0 x 89.0 cm Australian National Gallery 1984.1103
Horses have been an important animal in eastern Indonesia for centuries, and the small ponies of Sumba, Bima, Flores and Timor have gained a considerable reputation for their sturdiness and suitability in Southeast Asian conditions. They are ridden almost exclusively by men throughout the Lesser Sunda Islands and play a prominent role in ritual related to hunting and warfare. Fine saddle-cloths have been created for these important occasions. The Rotinese horse blanket a medium-sized rectangular cioth, displays red, blue and white banded warp ikat designs. These textiles generally can be distinguished from Rotinese men's wraps by their lack of a fringe. The spectacular nineteenth-century Tetum horse blanket, used by a ruler of a domain in the south Belu region, is a remarkably elaborate textile. It is constructed of layers of finely decorated fabric, and the central sitting section is padded with kapok. The effect is of alternating bands of red and brown warp ikat and gleaming brightly coloured silk supplementary weft wrapping on a dark indigo foundation weave.
tais woman's skirt Tetum people, south Belu region, Timor, Indonesia cotton, dyes supplementary weft wrapping, supplementary warp weave 114.4 x 59.4 cm Australian National Gallery 1988.640
Although the horse is a prominent feature of Timorese life, it is not alluded to in the earliest ancestral legends and it is still recognized as a foreign image (kasz) in Timorese art. Nevertheless, for at least the last century the horse has been an important part of textile iconography in the south Belu region. Asymmetrical design, with each motif created separately by the weft wrapping technique, is a characteristic feature of Tetum textiles. Figures, standing and on horseback, are arranged vertically on this brilliant red cloth, according to the way it would be worn, with the warp bands apparently unable to constrain the weaver's enthusiasm. This mid-twentieth-century example has been produced using bnghtly coloured commercial dyes.
seda man's shawl Ngada people, Flores, Indonesia cotton, natural dyes warp ikat, braiding 291.0 x 116.0 cm Australian National Gallery 1984.3188
Spindly animal figures often appear indistinctly on the dark indigo textiles of the Ngada of central Flores. On this early twentieth-century man's shawl the images are remarkably clear. The cloth reads in one direction asymmetrically, indicating that the two bands were woven separately, and were not cut and joined as is customary for symmetrical design structures. A hooked square motif enclosing a diagonal grid alternates with the horse. The ninth strand of the long fringe is knotted in diagonally opposite corners but the significance of this, if any, is unknown.
The complementarity of gender specific skills is such that among the Iban, weaving was known and valued as 'women's war'. Young Iban women are chided - in life and in legend - if they have not yet made a complex patterned pua, and without passing this test in the past they could not receive a captured head. Just as men are encouraged to travel far in their quest for experience and adventure, the further a pua travels, the more prestigious the reputation of the woman who wove it.60 Old heirloom pua, especially those that were carried by the longhouse communities in their mid-nineteenth-century migrations, are particularly revered.
In Bima on the island of Sumbawa, this complementarity of warfare and weaving is also expressed in a rhyme sung by young women to their warrior sweethearts:
'Arrows in your shield can be used as heddles,
So go forward in battle, I'll hear no excuses.'
(Hitchcock, 1985: 48)
On the island of Savu in eastern Indonesia, a woman spins yarn throughout a ceremonial cockfight held by men at the Great Altar in Mahara (Mesara), marking the opening of the Praise of the Earth, an annual period of festive dancing and gong-playing (Kana, 1983: 87). The competitive sport of cockfighting is closely associated with male blood-letting and in many parts of Southeast Asia it has replaced various forms of traditional warfare that are now prohibited.
While it is not known when or how the first horses arrived in Southeast Asia, this animal has become closely identified with ritual warfare, hunting and associated ceremonial activities in many parts of the region. Special horse blankets have been created for use by men of high status, and throughout insular Southeast Asia the horse is a familiar and recurring textile motif. Where it is closely associated with male prestige and wealth, it has become an established transition symbol and appears, like the buffalo, on textiles with and without riders. In particular, it is a popular image on men's shawls and wraps. Its depiction varies from the realistic horses of east Sumba and Tetum textiles to the simple schematic patterns of Endeh and Ngada. In mountain Luzon, the horse has also become a popular motif on the supplementary weft ceremonial textiles of the Tinguian.
147,148
153
149,150
151,152
While the complementarity of weaving and warfare is symbolically represented throughout Southeast Asia through the pairing of spear and cloth, it is not only the male activities surrounding warfare that are symbolically linked with the tasks of women. Important rituals performed by men find parallel meanings in the textile-making of women. In ancient Austronesian cultures, male oratory can be viewed as a weaving of legends, genealogies and history, and men's oral symbols can be linked with the visual symbols women provide through matting and textiles. The great oral and written chronicles of Southeast Asia not only extol the feats of gods, ancestors and great leaders but detail their fine apparel and rich regalia. In Iban genealogies, for example, men are identified by their names while women are known by the pua patterns that they have invented.
owes ceremonial shawl; hanging; shouldercloth Tinguian people, Luzon, Philippines cotton, dyes supplementary weft weave, embroidery 116.0 x 192.0 cm Australian National Gallery 1984.1252
The supplementary weft textiles of central Luzon also contain anthropomorphic and animal motifs, and this mid-twentieth-century example alternates human figures and horses. This type of cloth consists of three red, white and blue panels that are usually joined by bright embroidery stitches. Carried as shouldercloths by men, these figurative textiles are most prominent in the mortuary rituals of the Tinguian and the Kalinga, when they are part of the textile wealth displayed around the body of the deceased.
Boat-building and house construction are two specific male activities that are central to the well-being of the community,61 and both are often linked in legend and ceremony to textiles and weaving. On the small island of Palue, off the coast of central Flores, textiles are hung as symbolic sails at the launching of traditional fishing boats.62 Throughout the Indonesian archipelago, cloth is hung from the roof and rafters of newly constructed traditional houses, temples, rice-barns