Textiles 13 4 7 8 12 WATCH


1 Ceremonial cloth (osap or pesujutan), Indonesia, Lombok, Sasak, 15th century, cotton, balanced plain weave and continuous and discontinuous supplementary weft, Yale University Art Gallery, promised gift of Thomas Jaffe 2 Waist wrapper (sarung), Indonesia, Java, Lasem, circa 1910, cotton, balanced plain weave and hand-drawn batik, Yale University Art Gallery, Robert J Holmgren and Anita E Spertus Collection, promised gift of Thomas Jaffe 3 Indian trade textile (patolu), India, Gujarat, mid-18th/19th century, silk, balanced plain weave and double ikat, Yale University Art Gallery, Robert J Holmgren and Anita E Spertus Collection, promised gift of Thomas Jaffe


Ruth Barnes introduce the


Indonesian textiles in Yale University Art Gallery


4 Formal court waist wrapper (dodot bangun tulak alas-alasan pinarada mas), Indonesia, Java, Surakarta, circa 1890, cotton and gold leaf; tie-dye (tritik) and gluework, Yale University Art Gallery, Robert J Holmgren and Anita E Spertus Collection, promised gift of Thomas Jaffe 5 Man’s mantle or hip cloth (hinggi), Indonesia, Sumba, Kapunduk, East Sumba, late 19th century, cotton, warp-faced plain weave, warp ikat, tablet weave, Yale University Art Gallery, promised gift of Thomas Jaffe 6 Formal court waist wrapper (dodot bangun tulak alas-alasan pinarada mas), detail, Indonesia, Java, Surakarta, circa 1890, cotton and gold leaf, tie-dye (tritik) and gluework, Yale University Art Gallery, Robert J Holmgren and Anita E Spertus Collection, promised gift of Thomas Jaffe 7 Ritual Cloth (pua kumbu), Malaysia, Borneo, Sarawak, Iban, 19th century, cotton, warp-faced plain weave and warp ikat, Yale University Art Gallery, gift of Renee Claire Bertrand 8 Indian Trade Textile (sarasa), detail, India, Gujarat, 13th/14th century, cotton, resist and mordant block-printed and painted, Yale University Art Gallery, promised gift of Thomas Jaffe 9 Shroud (pori situtu), Indonesia, Sulawesi, Kalumpang or Palu Toraja, 18th century, cotton, warp-faced plain weave and warp ikat, Yale University Art Gallery, Robert J Holmgren and Anita E Spertus Collection, promised gift of Thomas Jaffe 10 Ceremonial cloth (geringsing lubeng), Indonesia, Bali, Tenganan Pegringsingan, early 20th century, cotton, balanced plain weave and double ikat, Yale University Art Gallery, promised gift of Thomas Jaffe 11 Ritual cloth (bidak), detail, Indonesia, Sumatra, Lampung or Komering, 17th/early 18th century, silk, cotton, and gold thread, weft-faced plain weave and weft ikat, Yale University Art Gallery, Robert J Holmgren and Anita E Spertus Collection, promised gift of Thomas Jaffe 12 Woman’s ceremonial skirt (tapis), Indonesia, Sumatra, Lampung, Belalau, 17th century. Cotton, silk; warp ikat, embroidery. Yale University Art Gallery, Robert J Holmgren and Anita E Spertus Collection, promised gift of Thomas Jaffe


Te textiles from the islands of


Sumatra and Sulawesi hold an important place within the gallery’s collection, counting more than 200 and 100 examples each, respectively. Te


remainder of the Indonesia, collection


encompasses textiles from regions throughout


showcasing


the country’s rich cultural diversity. In many of these societies’, textiles are exchanged by women before marriage – and at other rites of passage, coming of age, the birth of a child, or at a funeral. Tey are also closely related to wealth and can have talismanic and health-giving properties. Textiles


can also be used to


indicate a change in social status. In many regions, they were integrated into traditional belief systems, taking on the role of ceremonial cloths that were shown only during special occasions. It is the reverence with which they were treated that has allowed some of these cloths to survive in unfavourable climatic conditions. Tese cherished textiles were often stored in baskets hung from the rafters of the principal clan house in the village and protected with insect-repelling herbs and


fragrant woods to help protect them from damage. Sumatra is an island of diverse


cultures which has had close contact with India, the Malay, and Arab worlds, and trading links with Europe and China for centuries. Tese trade and social contacts produced their own


unique styles of


textiles.


Lampung, the southernmost region of the island, has been influenced by the Buddhist Srivijayan kingdom to its north, and to the south lie the powerful trading kingdoms of Java. In this region, long ceremonial cloths were used in various rituals, which were hung behind the principal person during the ceremony. Each cloth’s design would be woven to represent a certain situation, such as the representation of the ‘upper world’ using images of ancestors, ancestor shrines, and birds. Others show earthly dwellings and


animals, or human figures. Other cloths from this culture are used as women’s skirts known as tapis that show elaborate designs and are most often associated with marriage. Refined batiks from Java’s royal courts were highly localised cultural


expressions made and used within the immediate neighbourhood of the palace. Te origins of batik as an art form have been attributed partly to Hindu-Buddhist influences from 8th- century India, which were modified with the spread of Islam. A known technique in Southeast Asia certainly by the 14th century, batik displayed distinct features from the Hindu- Buddhist


ethos, which were


incorporated and absorbed into the Javanese psyche. Te advent of the


Sultanate of Mataram Empire (1582-1755), the last major independent kingdom on Java before being colonised by the Dutch, however, exacerbated the Islamic conversion of Hindu Java. Islam’s aversion to the portrayal of human and animal forms left Javanese culture submitting to change and cultural reconsiderations in fashion and design. In central Java, batik is a distinct art


The island of


Sumatra has its own unique


styles of textiles


form ranked alongside court dance (joged), poetry (tembang), drama (lakon), percussion orchestra (gamelan), and shadow puppetry (wayang kulit) as one of six gentry (priyayi) applied arts. Batik as costume had sacred connotations and was considered protection for the body. Its early history suggests it was crafted to be worn by those of high social status and, while used to wrap a newborn infant, was also believed to have healing power for the sick. By the late 18th century, batik was given exalted status as ceremonial dress. Motifs reserved for use solely by the Sultans of central Java began to be formalised. Edicts pronounced specific motifs


‘restricted’ or ‘forbidden’ (larangan) and exclusive to the court. As sacred


heirlooms (pusaka) handed down from one generation to the next, they were confined to the privileged within the palace compound (kraton). Tis meant that batik motifs became an index for hierarchy and a visual sign of social order. In September, to record this vast


• Until 11 January 2026, Yale University Art Gallery, artgallery.yale.edu


• Catalogue available ASIAN ART | OCTOBER 2025


range of textiles that incorporate a myriad of designs, cultures, and beliefs, the gallery has produced a digital catalogue of their Indonesian textiles. Indonesian Textiles at the Yale University Art Gallery is a free born-digital publication that catalogues the museum’s approximately 1,200 textiles from maritime Southeast Asia and is organised by geographic area, with each region introduced by a brief overview of its notable features, history, and textile traditions. An appendix of scientific research findings rounds out the study, which has produced exciting new evidence of inter-island connections discovered by the authors during their analysis of these complex and culturally significant works.


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