Textiles for this World and Beyond: Treasures from Insular Southeast Asia

Long before Islam and Christianity were established, the people who settled the islands of Southeast Asia had developed a philosophy for existence in a highly unpredictable world. Fundamental to these beliefs is the need for balance between ancestors, cosmic forces, and the spirits that govern sickness and death. The necessary equilibrium is maintained through adat, a system of ethnically distinct customs, and textiles are central to the proper functioning of adat.

This lavishly illustrated book explores the role that textiles play in Indonesian and Malaysian daily life. Textiles sometimes illustrate the transitions that take place at important life ceremonies. Often patterned in large geometric forms, the textiles used for funerals and other rites and ceremonies to appease the spiritual world are among the most dramatic made in insular Southeast Asia. The striking motifs, materials, and patterns of other textiles communicate class standing or membership in a particular ethnic group.

No other country is as closely aligned to a textile tradition as is Indonesia to the wax-resist patterning technique known as batik. Indonesian batik was originally made only on Java, where certain patterns and colors came to exist within the confines of custom and ethnicity. The batik textiles featured in Textiles for This World and Beyond exemplify the creativity and precision of the art form.

Softcover

Book condition: Good to Very Good. Covers have light general wear. Minor age-toning to edges of page-block. Light foxing to half-title and last page. Otherwise Internally clean

Dust jacket condition: No Jacket as issued

Author: Mattiebelle Gittinger

Dimensions: 23 x 28 cm

Print length: 136 Pages

Language: English

Publication date: 2005

Publisher: Scala Publishers in association with the Textile Museum, Washington

ISBN: ‎1857593766