east-Javanese empire of Majapahit, which claimed suzerainty over large tracts of the archipelago including the island of Lombok. The rainbow stripes on the uncut mid-twentieth-century cloth demonstrate the wide range of tones achieved from the natural dyes of the bark of Morinda citrifolia roots, Indigofera tinctoria leaves and crushed turmeric, Curcuma domestica.
hoba woman's skirt; ceremonial gift Nagé Kéo people, Flores, Indonesia handspun cotton, natural dyes warp ikat, supplementary weft weave 200.0 x 170.0 cm Australian National Gallery 1984.577
Of the traditional garments of the Nagé Kéo, only the woman's skirt (hoba) is still woven in the Boawai district of central Flores. (Men's shawls (sada) and a rectangular cloth bound with blanket-stitch, probably a saddlecloth for the horses of prominent leaders, are no longer made or used.) The hoba are composed of two predominantly maroon banded panels flanking an indigo central panel. All three panels of this mid-twentieth-century textile are decorated with bands of small white ikat motifs. A few bright yellow and pink supplementary threads, which are evident only on one side of the fabric, are an essential feature. As important ceremonial gifts, the hoba are usually sewn together with the continuous warp threads still intact. Unlike these ceremonial cloths, cylindrical skirts intended for everyday wear (niko nako) are composed of randomly arranged stripes.
ulos rujat ceremonial cloth Toba Batak people, north Sumatra, Indonesia handspun cotton, natural dyes warp ikat, supplementary weft weave, twining 93.5 x 219.4 em Australian National Gallery 1983.3696
Throughout Southeast Asia the simplest warp ikat patterns consist of narrow warp bands of S spirals, V and rhomb motifs. On this wide, single panel cloth associated with the Porsea district of the Toba Batak region of north Sumatra, the central patterning is flanked by red-brown borders woven in threads dyed with Morinda citrifolia roots, known to the Toba Batak as bangkudu. (Another popular cloth made elsewhere in the Toba region, the ulos sibolang, has a similar structure and design although it is woven entirely in shades of indigo from Marsdenia tinctoria, known locally as salaon.) A little supplementary weaving appears across each end and the design of the cloth suggests that in the past it may also have been made in three sections in the manner of some other Toba Batak textiles. The fringe and the twined borders, traditionally the work of men, show precise and detailed patterns that contrast with the soft blurring of the central ikat, and are suggestive of the carving on architectural structures and other objects also executed by men and painted in the same red, black and white colours. Early twentieth century
A woman on the island of Lembata ties an ikat pattern (mowak) of interlocking human figures (ata diken) with strips of gebang palm fibre on to bundles of warp threads set out on a tying-frame.
The subtle use of stripes for textile decoration is not confined, of course, to warp-decorated traditions. On Bali and Lombok subtle shades of natural colours are graded in weft stripes to produce beautiful textiles. The optical tricks created by the use of stripes, which have been exploited by many twentieth-century Western artists, have been applied dramatically to a number of traditional Southeast Asian textiles composed of stripes or the intersection of stripes in grids.36
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The strength of narrow banded patterns is evident in the simple lines of two-colour warp ikat woven by many ethnic groups, such as the Batak peoples of north Sumatra, who have remained comparatively isolated from external influence and trade until recent times. However, banded patterns have been retained even in Southeast Asian cultures long exposed to foreign ideas, materials and designs. The Malays of Terengganu, for example, have created silk textiles with weft ikat bands, and both Batak and Malay artisans work with combinations of ancient chevron and rhomb shapes to achieve comparable patterns.
Designs created from small blocks of ikat-protected threads stretched into pointed V patterns between narrow warp stripes, are also found on Bontoc cotton cloth on Luzon, and in slightly more elaborate patterned bands on a great many warp ikat textiles from eastern Indonesia. The simple V and lozenge also decorate other Luzon cloths woven with a supplementary warp technique, in which an extra set of warp threads in contrasting colour, is interwoven with the normal warp to produce the pattern (which appears in· mirror image on the reverse side of the fabric). Like many ancient designs, the arrowhead or chevron also appears on other types of textiles woven on different kinds of looms. This usually led to its transformation from warp to weft decoration and hence the arrowhead banded design is found on many weft-decorated silk textiles throughout Southeast Asia.
(detail) ija plang rusa; ija plang rutha man's waistcloth; wrap Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia; used in Kelantan, Malaysia silk, natural dyes warp ikat 96.4 x 190.8 cm Australian National Gallery 1985.381
This nineteenth-century man's wrap is an item of ceremonial dress in Kelantan, Malaysia, where men's trousers were also made of the same fabric. However, other Kelantan ikat silk fabrics are decorated with weft patterns and there is no clear evidence that the arrowhead warp ikats sometimes attributed to Kelantan were actually woven there. This particular textile was almost certainly woven in Aceh, north Sumatra. Despite its proximity to India and its position on the old trade routes, Aceh was one of the very few areas in Southeast Asia to continue to use the warp ikat technique after silk thread was introduced. Weft ikat was never practised in Aceh, although according to early travellers' records, silk thread was widely used there and was eventually produced locally. This cloth is deep red with narrow stripes of black and white ikat. Cotton textiles of almost identical size, colour and design are woven in the nearby Toba Batak region of north Sumatra where they are used as ceremonial baby-carriers (ulos mangiring).
(detail) ana 'nene' sacred textile Sasak people, Sembalun, Lombok, Indonesia handspun cotton, natural dyes weft ikat, tapestry weave 193.5 x 94.2 cm Australian National Gallery 1985.1743
This Sasak weft ikat cloth, possibly belonging to a class of textile known as sokong after the village of that name, contains graded bands of superbly moderated colours. Accotding to Dutch sources, these textiles were known as ana' nene' (child of the ancestors) in the Masbagik area of Lombok, and were used during ceremonies to collect water from a holy spring (Haar, 1925: 74; Goris, 1936: 227, 230). The weft ikat designs repeat the spirals and rhombs found in ancient warp ikat patterns and a narrow tapestry band finishes each end of the fabric. The colours are white and shades of blue to black. No examples of these weft ikat cloths were collected during the colonial period and, unlike the warp-striped lempot or kekombong, there are only occasional references to these textiles in any accounts of Sasak weaving. Nineteenth century
kain Iemar ceremonial wrap; shawl Malay people, Terengganu, Malaysia silk, gold thread, natural dyes weft ikat, supplementary weft weave 103.0 x 206.0 cm Australian National Gallery 1984.1248
While the field of this nineteenth-century textile displays motifs based on simple V and rhomb shapes known as the cuai pattern, the refined development of the weft ikat technique has permitted the dyer to use seven different colours in narrow patterned bands. The dominant colour of the cloth is red, and the narrow green stripes are unusual. In contrast to this exquisite but subdued field, the ends of the cloth glow with opulent gold thread.
(detail)
