Antiques on main stocks a range of good Ikat & Batik tex­tiles sourced in Indone­sia. Ikat from the islands of Sulawesi, Sumba, Flo­res, Roti, Tan­im­bar & Sawu. Batik from Java and Sulawesi. From Bali, in par­tic­u­lar, we fea­ture Story Cloths which serve var­i­ous reli­gious func­tions for the Bali­nese Hindu peo­ple. Bali­nese Hin­duism is the pre­dom­i­nant reli­gion of the island. The cloths depict scenes from the great Indian Hindu sagas such as the Ramayana.

 

Ikat & Songket.

Here a won­der­ful link on Ikat pro­duc­tion in Flores.

 

Batik. Please be tol­er­ant. Lots to images to upload.

 

 

Bali Story Cloths.

The first Bali­nese painters were pup­pet painters, a skill which evolved over time to include paint­ing fig­ures on cloth accord­ing to well-established icono­graphic rules. Often called wayang-style paint­ings because the fig­ures resem­bled shadow pup­pet char­ac­ters, these for­mal­ized tra­di­tional “story cloths” (sula­man) related scenes from Bali­nese myths and the great Mahab­harata and Ramayana epics. In other words, the same enchant­ing sto­ries depicted on the cloths are also acted out in Indone­sian and Bali­nese wayang kulit shows.

Pre­sented as offer­ings and as rit­ual dec­o­ra­tions in tem­ples, house­hold ances­tor shrines, and vil­lage cer­e­mo­nial build­ings, spe­cial­ists in these unique nar­ra­tive art forms were com­mis­sioned by the kings, princes, and tem­ple coun­cils of courtly cen­ters such as Gian­yar, Tabanan, Sanur, Ban­gli, Sin­garaja, and Karangasem. These noble­men loaned each other artists, in this way spread­ing art all over the island.
The early Hin­duized Bali­nese pro­duced six main types of embroi­dered cloths. Ider-ider were cot­ton scroll paint­ings in the shape of ban­ners, usu­ally about two meters long and 30 cm wide, hung under the eaves of shrines dur­ing fes­ti­vals. Another type, Langse, were large rec­tan­gu­lar pieces of painted cloth, up to 15 meters long and four meters wide, that were sus­pended from puri pavil­ions or used as cur­tains or room dividers to par­ti­tion off areas of the tem­ple.
Both the Ider-ider and Langse were reli­gious nar­ra­tive paint­ings char­ac­ter­ized by a flat, stiff, for­mal style — a ser­ial rep­re­sen­ta­tion of peo­ple, gods, and demons painted accord­ing to strict tra­di­tional for­mu­lae and lack­ing emo­tion. Yet other types of tra­di­tional paint­ings were Tabing, square or rec­tan­gu­lar embroi­deries or paint­ings, and Lamak, small rit­ual offer­ing cloths. Small flags, usu­ally fea­tur­ing Naga crea­tures are termed Umbul-umbul. Lastly a form of cloth tem­ple cover,in essence a ceil­ing orna­ment were called Langit-langit .In Bahasa Indone­sia “lan­git” is Sky.
The char­ac­ters occu­pied a world of Hindu gods, demons, princes and princesses dressed in the ancient attire of Hindu Javanese times. Quaint but rather unin­spir­ing, the paint­ings’ pur­pose was to instill moral and eth­i­cal val­ues by teach­ing laws of adat and reli­gious cus­tom. As the art forms evolved, how­ever, more pop­u­lar every­day scenes from Bali­nese life crept into the paint­ings, as well as super­nat­ural and magic themes and funny and whim­si­cal char­ac­ters and clowns from Bali­nese folk­lore.
As just a few of the many exam­ples of Bali­nese artis­tic expres­sion, these col­or­ful, del­i­cate and lively forms of tra­di­tional paint­ings offer insight into the long tra­di­tion of story telling in Bali while remind­ing us that ancient uni­ver­sal themes of moral­ity, man ver­sus nature, and the tri­umph over adver­sity can be just as sig­nif­i­cant today.

 

Suma­tran Chi­nese Tem­ple Ban­ner. On silk, this comes from a tem­ple, which was ded­i­cated to God­dess of Mercy in Sumar­tra, Indone­sia, This tem­ple was built in about Qing Tao-kuang (1821 – 1850 years) by Palem­bang Chi­nese. We sold this to the TUGU Hotel Group, Indone­sia. SOLD

 

Indone­sian Tex­tile Links; Here is a list of sites that con­tinue to inspire us. Fore­most is the fab­u­lous Yayasan (Foun­da­tion); Threads of Life.

 

 

Suzani from Uzbekistan.

 

 

We also have in stock a few select antique ori­en­tal car­pets and kelims. In stock presently we also have a large num­ber of Uzbeki Suzani, prin­ci­pally from the cities of Samarkand, Tashkent & Bukhara. Indi­vid­ual items will be uploaded shortly.

 

 

 

 

 

Tapa. Bast Textiles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Antiques on Main also fea­ture a large range of old Bast tex­tiles from Poly­ne­sia & Melane­sia, more com­monly known as Tapa cloth. In par­tic­u­lar Masi from Fiji, Siapo from Samoa and Ngatu from Tonga. Also tapa from Papua New Guinea’s Sepik Valley.