tribaltextiles.info

Hi all,

As I couldn't find anything on the forum about Sumbawa I thought I would start a new thread with this sarong called a Kre Alang from West Sumbawa. These sarongs were woven by aristocratic families of the Semawa ethnic group whose language seems to be related to that of the Sasak of Lombok. Textiles are predominantly cotton but some silk, probably imported from Makassar, was used. Woven patterns were produced in supplementary weft and tapestry weaves often using imported threads of silver and gold. Silver seems to have been preferred. I have never seen ikat textiles from Sumbawa. Motifs show strong Islamic influence but retain some older elements usually not found in Islamic art such as human figures and birds. Motifs of ships speak of the long history of trade with Makassar, European powers and Majapahit in East Java. Sumbawa was famous for its horses, sappan wood for red dye, rice, wax, honey and salt. Little research has been done on the textiles of Sumbawa and they rarely appear on the art market.

Best regards

The vast majority of Kre Alang that I have seen had brocade patterns woven with silver or gold gilt threads as in the above example. The base fabric is generally cotton but silk was used in a few examples and a small number of pieces had embroidered patterns using silk thread. This rare example was embroidered with silver plate, a flat ribbon like thread, and is the only such Kre Alang that I have seen. Surely there were others but whether they survived or where they might now be I do not know. If anyone knows of another Kre Alang embroidered with silver or gold plate I hope they will let me know.

Another unique aspect of this textile is that it was polished, probably using a seashell, before the embroidery was done. This gives the cloth its shine. This is not found on Kre Alang with brocade patterns, that I know of, as it would be difficult to do without damaging the supplementary gilt threads. The embroidered patterns are in the Kapala or head of the sarong and the badan or body has scattered patterns woven in discontinuous supplementary weft. The cotton fabric has the usual array of subtle stripes done in silver gilt threads and a reserved palette of what I believe are natural colors. This Kre Alang probably dates to the late 19th or very early 20th century.

I hope others will add to this post and share any textiles they have from Sumbawa especially shoulder cloths which often have patterns in tapestry weave and/or brocade.

Best regards

Hi Darrell,

This technique of embroidering with flat silver stripes is called Kelingkan in Malay and is used in Trengganu, Kelantan, Aceh, Palembang and Sumbawa. I am still investigating what other Malay speaking countries also use this technique which probably originated from India. I will upload my Sumbawa kre alangs with Kelingkan embriodery, once I have figured out how to upload my photos. I am researching whether the use of his technique can show the intimate connections between the Semawa Muslims and those of other Malay speaking regions producing Kelingkan textiles. The checkered patterns of the base cotton cloth, I presume were an influence from the Bugis Muslims.

Thanks for sharing. John

John, While I have seen many of your textiles from Sumbawa it would be wonderful if you would post them on this thread so others might see them too. I would especially like to see your pieces embroidered with silver plate. If you are having trouble uploading your photos Pamela can help run you through how to do it. She was very patient with me and a great help when I first joined the forum. You may have to adjust the sizes of your photos as there are size limits on the forum. Look forward to seeing your textiles.

Best regards

Just to remind people about loading up images - there is a 0.5 MB limit on the file size of any image and a maximum of 5 images per post. If you have more images just start another post and add the images. I also ask that the images are not wider than 600 pix wide or this distorts the forum (and I have a lot of work to do downloading the images, re-sizing them and then uploading the reduced sized images to the forum). A further point, the images appear in reverse order. The last you post appears immediately under the text.

The first image is the 'challenging' one as it is a learning experience. After that it is relatively easy.

Good luck!!!

_________________
Pamela

http://www.tribaltextiles.info
on-line tribal textiles resource

Hi John
read your coments on distribution of use of flat silver with interest. Do you think the sowing of flat ribbons of gold into tampan is related to this? I hope you can see from this image that the gold ribbon work was originally extensive, only a little surviving.
Chris

Reminds me of 'assiut/asayut' from Egypt, tho that is done on netting.

Chris, It has been awhile since we have heard from you on the forum. Good to have you back. I am not sure from where or when flat plate thread began to be imported to the greater Indonesian area but I suspect that it came from Europe and perhaps from France. Here is a photo of a green velvet court train with gold, flat plate embroidery from 1810-1820 that uses materials which seem similar to the flat plate that was used in Indonesia. A google search for antique flat plate generally seems to lead back to France which may have also been the origin of the gold wrapped threads used in songket textiles. This is just a guess and I don't have any proof but goldwork was used extensively in Europe and seems to be a likely origin for the gold and silver threads and flat plate that was imported to Indonesia.

Best regards