von Weick and Gisela Volger of the Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum in Cologne; Johanna Agthe of the Museum fur Volkerkunde, Frankfurt; Natasha Nabholz and Urs Ramseyer of the Museum fur Volkerkunde, Basel; and Mmes Bataille and Cousin, M. Dupaigne and the staff of the Phototheque at the Musee de L'Homme, Paris. During my several visits to Europe I have accumulated personal debts to many friends for their support, encouragement and companionship and I would particularly like to thank Rens Heringa, Professor and Mrs P. E. de Josselin de Jong, Henk Maier, and Stuart and Rosemary Robson.
For assistance during a number of brief visits to the United Kingdom, I would like to express thanks to the staff of the following institutions: the Victoria and Albert Museum; the Museum of Mankind; the Royal Anthropological Society; the Anthropology Museum, Cambridge; the Pitt-Rivers Museum, Oxford; and in particular to Ruth Barnes, Brian Durrans, Henry Ginsburg and Jonathan Hope. I am especially grateful for my long and close friendship with John Guy, Assistant Keeper of the Indian Department at the Victoria and Albert Museum, and for his professional assistance on many occasions.
In the United States of America and Canada, the staff of the following museums were also extremely helpful: the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago; the Textile Museum, Washington; the Museum of Natural History, New York; the Museum of Cultural History and the Anthropological Archives of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; and the Museum of Cultural History at the University of California, Los Angeles. In Canada I was welcomed by the staff of the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto. I would particularly like to thank Mannie Adams, Charlotte Coffman, Dale Gluckman, Mary Kahlenberg, Richard Mellot, Jeff Holmgren and Anita Spertus for their personal interest and professional support. My special thanks, of course, go to Mattiebelle Gittinger who has always encouraged my own textile research and that of others in the Southeast Asian region and whose own work provides a model for the standard of scholarship I would like to achieve.
Elsewhere in Asia, especially during short periods of research in 1983, 1985 and 1988, I have received generous assistance from the staff of various national museums. In particular, I would like to thank Ms Zubaidah at the Museum Negara, Kuala Lumpur; Constance Sheares and Lee Chor Lin of the National Museum, Singapore; Dr Jose Peralta and the photography department of the National Museum, Manila; and the late Ms Chira Chongkol at the National Museum, Thailand. I would also like to thank Piriya Krairiksh for his special assistance during my time in Bangkok. I am especially grateful to Patricia Cheesman, Chiang Mai, for her practical and professional assistance. In India the staff of the Calico Textile Museum in Ahmedabad extended every assistance during a difficult period of reorganization.
At the Australian National Gallery, I thank the Director and the staff of Conservation, Exhibitions, International Art, Photographic Services, Publications and Registry for their assistance on this project. I wish to acknowledge the important contribution of Ruth McNicoll who in 1979 as the then Curator of Primitive Art was responsible for beginning the collection of Southeast Asian textiles at the Australian National Gallery, and who coordinated the early work of the Asian Textiles Advisory Committee. Other Australian museums and art galleries with interests in Asian art have been most supportive, and I wish particularly to thank Dick Richards of the Art Gallery of South Australia, Zoe Wakelin-King of the Australian Museum, and Fiona Leibrick of the Northern Territory Museum of Arts and Sciences.
I am indebted to the editorial and production staff at Oxford University Press and to Peter Shaw for their hard work and professionalism during the many months it has taken to convert a cumbersome manuscript into a handsome book. I am especially grateful to Louise Sweetland, Oxford's Academic Publisher, who has generously given of her time and energy and has been personally supportive in overcoming innumerable difficulties.
I am very grateful for the professional and personal assistance, often inseparable, of many friends and colleagues in Australia during the course of this project. These include Marybeth Clark, Darryl Collins, Christine Dixon, Penny Graham, Mike and Margarete Heppell, Ruurdje Laarhoven, Barbara Leigh, Cecilia Ng, Hugh O'Neill, David Stuart-Fox and S. Supomo. For personal support both in Australia and during periods of research overseas I wish to thank Rob Metherall, Helen Trudgian, and other members of my close family, especially Alison Runnalls and Simeran Maxwell.
Gratitude of a special kind must be directed to the members of the Asian Textiles Advisory Committee of the Australian National Gallery. Without Anthony Forge, Jim Fox, John Maxwell and James Mollison this project could never have succeeded. It was during the lively, lengthy and enlightening meetings of the Committee and the long discussions which developed along with our friendships that many of the ideas arose which form the basis of this book. Each has been very generous with his advice, ideas, encouragement and criticism. I am very thankful for all of these contributions. They cannot be underestimated. Of course John Maxwell has provided the strongest and closest support, from the great discoveries to the final full-stops. Thank you.
Robyn Maxwell
Department of Asian Art
Australian National Gallery
Detail of Plate 245
Chapter 1
AN INTRODUCTION TO SOUTHEAST ASIAN TEXTILE HISTORY
Throughout Asia textiles are one of the most powerful and exciting art forms, and in Southeast Asia in particular, the spiritual and ritual importance that textiles play in ceremonies of state and religion is reflected in their great mystery and splendour. Southeast Asian textiles are outstanding works of art, formed by a rich variety of techniques. The finest examples, often of elaborate and complex design, display superb levels of technical skill in weaving, dyeing, embroidery and appliqué. A diversity of materials includes bark, plant fibres, cotton, silk, beads, shells, gold and silver, and among a profusion of patterns and motifs we find human figures, abstract geometric shapes, ships, arabesques, calligraphy, flowers, recognizable animals and imaginary monsters.
The most common function for textiles is their use as articles of clothing. However, apart from their importance as everyday and ceremonial dress, textiles in Southeast Asia have numerous other functions including their use as religious hangings, royal insignia, theatrical backdrops, sacred talismans or secular currency, for they are intimately connected to systems of religion, political organization, marriage, social status and exchange. These functions in turn affect the size, shape, structure and decoration of the cloths.
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Since decorative textiles are of great importance as elaborate festive garments, as symbols of prestige, and as items of wealth and religious significance, the making of such cloth often requires physical and spiritual precautions to protect the quality of dyeing and weaving, and the well-being of the artisan. Consequently, legends and rituals surround both the origins and the making of important fabrics.
The texture of the materials, the skill of the craftswoman, the richness of the colours, and the clarity and intricacy of the patterning and design are the usual criteria for assessing the beauty and merit of these textiles. However, as we shall see, some unpretentious striped or plain-dyed cloths have great ritual potency. Moreover, many designs and motifs convey important messages significant only to those familiar with the particular social and religious principles of the people who have produced them. It is only by seeing cloths in their cultural context that we can begin to understand their true value and meaning.
A Dou Donggo woman from mountain Sumbawa, Indonesia, immersing handspun cotton thread in a pot of locally grown indigo dye. The use
