Special Collections: Fabricasians

FabricAsian

Textiles in Indonesia

Australia's developing relations with Indonesia in the 20th century established links which sparked increasing interest in travel to Indonesia and consequently interest in its many arts, cultures and societies.

Indonesia map

Textiles of Indonesia, an exhibition mounted at the National Gallery of Victoria in 1976, reflected this interest of Australia in its Southeast Asian neighbours. Many of the textiles on display were lent by local specialist collectors and by amateurs from the Indonesian Arts Society.

Three years later, the exhibition Splendid Symbols: Textiles and Tradition in Indonesia at the Textile Museum in Washington DC initiated a new level of Indonesian textile research and publication. The exhibition coincided with an international symposium, the fifth Irene Emery Roundtable on Museum Textiles: Indonesian Textiles, which brought together professional textile scholars from museums around the world with Southeast Asian collections. So enthused was the Australian National Gallery that it went on to establish its own Indonesian textile collection with the assistance of an expert committee.

Scholarship on textiles has greatly expanded in the last twenty years, examining their richness in historical and anthropological contexts, as well as their obvious aesthetic values.

This exhibition of books from the collection and fabrics on loan offers the viewer examples of the richness of materials, techniques, designs and symbolism of Indonesian textiles.

Ikat

Ikat is a dye-resist method of weaving, mostly applied to cotton, in which resist material is bound at intervals around the yarn, either the warp or the weft in the two principle techniques. Double ikat, geringsing, is a complicated technique which produces patterns in both warp and weft. Ikat has been known in Indonesia since at least the 10th century and is primarily produced in Sumatra, Kalimantan and Sarawak, Sulawesi and the Nusa Tenggara (Lesser Sundra) island chain.

Stylised birds, animals and human figures, as well as 'tree of life symbols' are common features of ikat cloth. Less common and more highly prized are the famous 'ship cloths' of southern Sumatra, restricted to use by the nobility for ceremonial purposes.

Songket

Songket is primarily found in Aceh, Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Sumbawa. As Arab and Indian traders increased their traffic in Southeast Asia during the 16th century, the influence of Islam spread. Weaving techniques using silk and gold and silver thread were introduced to the islands of Indonesia, and local manufacture of fine textiles developed.

Much of the silk weaving produces beautifully coloured sarongs, with gold and silver threads used in a supplementary weft technique to create highly decorative designs. As Islam proscribes the representation of livings things, geometric motifs and stylised floral designs are commonly featured in the textiles.

Batik

Batik, the ancient craft of wax-resist dyeing, is said to have been established in Java by the twelfth century. India, Turkestan, China, Japan and West Africa have long traditions in batik production, as well as other parts of the Indonesian archipelago, but central Javanese batik is the best known. By the 17th century it had developed into a complex and highly-skilled art form. Dutch traders imported Javanese batiks into Holland and the form became widely known in Europe.

In Indonesia traditional techniques for making batiks still survive in villages alongside innovations, where vegetable dyes and the application of wax by the canting are more often replaced by synthetic dyes and the stamping block cap for quicker wax application. Commercial reproduction of batik patterns - printing - is now widespread through modern mechanised processes. Naturally-dyed batik characteristically used indigo blue, soga brown, rich creams and golds, but newer dyes expanded the range dramatically. The most highly regarded Javanese batik cloth is finely woven with an even surface. Cotton is the most common material, although silk is occasionally used.

Batik motifs are often taken from nature: animals, insects, flowers and fruit. However, geometric patterns often make up the background designs: stars, lozenges, rosettes, intersecting circles and diagonals. These motifs have generally been used to decorate untailored rectangular cloths which are folded, wrapped or draped as items of clothing.

Metallic Thread Embroidery

Some of the most elaborate ornamental cloths in Indonesia are those embroidered with metallic thread. In south Sumatra in particular, needle-workers use the couching technique where gold or silver thread is laid out in lines and shapes and tacked down on to the surface of the cloth with fine cotton. The pieces are usually created for ceremonial use.

Islamic and Chinese influences in this kind of embroidery are quite pronounced, with the cloths ornamented with geometric shapes or stylised human figures, animals, plants and mythological creatures.

References

Ian Charles Stewart and Judith Shaw. Indonesians: portraits from an Archipelago. London; Melbourne: Routledge & Kegan Paul, [1983].
Baill f 959.8038 STEW

John Gillow. Traditional Indonesian textiles. London: Thames & Hudson, 1992.
ERC f 746.09598 GILL

Tibor Bodrogi. Art Of Indonesia [Indonezia Mureszete]. Translation from the Hungarian by Eva Rácz. London: Academy Editions, 1973.
Baill 709.598 B668

Robert J. Holmgren and Anita E. Spertus. Early Indonesian textiles from three island cultures: Sumba, Toraja, Lampung. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1989.
Baill f 746.09598 HOLM

Brigitta Hauser-Schäublin [et al]. Balinese textiles [Textilien in Bali]. London: British Museum Press, 1991.
Baill f 746.095986 HAUS

Mattiebelle Gittinger. Splendid symbols: textiles and tradition in Indonesia. Singapore; New York: Oxford University Press, 1985.
Baill f 746.09598 GITT

John Gillow and Brian Sentance. World textiles: a visual guide to traditional techniques. London: Thames & Hudson, 1999.
Baill f 746.09 GILL

Mary Hunt Kahlenberg. Textile traditions of Indonesia. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1977.
ERC 746.09598 KAH 1

Michael Hitchcock. Indonesian textiles. London: British Museum Press in association with the Centre for South-East Asian Studies, University of Hull, 1991.
ERC f 746.09598 HITC

Langewis, Laurens and Frits A. Wagner. Decorative art in Indonesian textiles. Amsterdam: Van der Peet, 1964.
Baill f 746 L277

Robyn Maxwell. Textiles of Southeast Asia: tradition, trade and transformation. Canberra: Australian National Gallery; Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1990.
Baill f 746.0959 MAXW

Ila Keller. Batik; the art and craft. Rutland, Vermont: C. E. Tuttle Co., [1966].
Baill 746.662 KELL

Joan Gibbs. Batik unlimited. New York, Watson-Guptill Publications, [1974].
Baill f 746.6 G443

Cultures at crossroads: Southeast Asian textiles from the Australian National Gallery. Canberra: Australian National Gallery, 1992.
Baill f 746.0959074 AUST

Sylvia Fraser-Lu. Indonesian batik: processes, patterns, and places. Singapore; New York: Oxford University Press, 1986.
Baill 746.66209598 FRAS

Textiles of Indonesia: an introductory handbook. [Melbourne]: National Gallery of Victoria for the Indonesian Arts Society, 1976.
ERC 746.09598 TEX 1 B

Anne Richter. Arts and crafts of Indonesia. London: Thames and Hudson, 1993.
Baill 745.09598 RICH

Garrett Solyom and Bronwen Solyom. Textiles of the Indonesian archipelago. [s.l.] University Press of Hawaii, 1973.
Baill 746 S692

Glossary

batik

Patterning technique. Colouring is controlled by application of wax or paste resist to some design areas of a fabric so that dye only penetrates uncoated areas. The resist is removed by boiling, melting or scraping after dyeing.

canting

The Javanese name for a small batik tool consisting of a wooden handle with a copper reservoir from which a spout or spouts permit the controlled application of the molten wax to the cloth surface.

cap

The Javanese term for a metal stamp, usually constructed of strips of sheet copper, used in the batik process to apply molten wax to the cloth surface.

ceplok ceplok

Repetitive designs of symmetrical motifs in the forms of stars, rosettes, lozenges, etc., as seen from above.

ikat

The resist dyeing process in which designs are reserved in warp or weft yarns by tying off small bundles of yarns to prevent the penetration of dye.

kain panjang

Long cloth, a longer version of the sarong.

kepala

Central panel of a sarong, different from the main design. Usually worn in the front by women and at the back by men.

megamendung

A cloud motif formed of lozenge-shaped spirals.

mirong

Wing motif, with a pair of wings representing the garuda.

parang

A diagonally aligned design with a stylised knife blade pattern.

patola

Long silk double-ikat from Gujurat, India; prized luxury trade items.

palepai

Ceremonial textiles, the preserve of aristocrats, displayed during rites of passage.

sarong

Long cloth sewn at the sides into a tubular skirt; worn folded, pleated, gathered or tucked at the waist.

selandang

Scarf or shawl, which can be draped around the head or upper torso.

sido-mukti

Pattern consisting of small motifs enclosed within bands of lozenges aligned diagonally across the material.

soga

A brown dye used in Javanese batik, derived from a combination of bark and wood.

songket

A widely term in Southeast Asia for supplementary weft patterning usually denoting metallic thread as the major supplementary element.

teretik

A dye-resist method, where designs are stitched onto the fabric; after dyeing, the stitches are cut away to reveal the patterns.

tulis

to write or draw: high quality batik decorated with the canting.

tumpal

Row of repeating triangles; one of Southeast Asia's most ancient motifs.

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