Nagas, birds, elephants

Nagas, birds, elephants. Traditional Dress from Mainland Southeast Asia.

In the book, Southeast Asian textiles are examined from several different angles – geographical, chronological and anthropological; starting with a presentation of textile types, their ritualistic roles and their systems of patterning, the distinguishing features of the different peoples – their beliefs, their customs and their celebrations – are approached through depictions of their traditional dress and materials. The geographical scope of the selected materials was restricted to mainland Southeast Asia. The earliest items discussed are Khmer-Empire statues from the 12th–13th centuries, while the most recent items are textiles collected – mostly “in the field” – in the 19th–20th centuries.

This volume also takes a peek into the practical side of collecting artistic materials in Southeast Asia. Close to a hundred objects are presented in the volume: alongside valuable – and very rarely seen – items from Hungarian public collections (Ferenc Hopp Museum of Asiatic Arts, Museum of Ethnography), there are numerous interesting Southeast Asian textiles acquired by private collectors and scientific researchers.