Saturday, October 10, 2015, 10 a.m. TRACING PATTERNS OF TEXTILES IN ANCIENT JAVA (8TH-15TH CENTURY) With Sandra Sardjono, PhD Candidate, History of Art, UC Berkeley
This was an illuminating effort on the part of someone who has served as a conservator of Javanese texiles in a museum, and then as a curator at LACMA, and now is doing her Phd at U Cal Berkeley. She is seeking to make connections between archaeological discoveries of stone relief carving, sculpture and what it has to tell us about textiles. So far, she simply finds continuity, and illustrates by the consistency of certain patterns. Her research needs completion, and so far she has found 20 samples of textiles in the sculpture at Premamben, which tells the story of The Ramayana. Marsha Reichle, curator at the Asia Museum, gave a presentation, "Reading" the Ramayana Through Javanese Temple reliefs, guiding us through each relief at Candi Prambanan this friday, October 16. I am especially interested as I will visit this site in late December.
I was reminded of my own publication, of a Mesopotamian textile, based on sculptural and archaeological evidence, which was presented and well received at the national meeting of the Textile Arts Society in America, in Madison, WIsconsin. ARS TEXTRINA A Journal of Textiles and Costume Volume Twenty-Two December 1994. Winnipeg, Canada. pp. 193-216 "My Lady": Weaving a New Thread of Connection in Ancient Sumer". I look at Queen Napirasu from Susa highlighting embroidery and spangled tunic, as reflected on a bronze sculpture. I focus on the detail of a figure of Enheduanna, with a flounced gown, a sculptural disc found in the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
