Textiles of Indonesia

Drawn from one of the world's leading textile collections, this magnificently presented array of traditional weavings from the Indonesian archipelago provides a unique window into the region's cultures, rites, and history.

Gathered over the course of more than three decades, the Thomas Murray collection of Indonesian textiles is the most important privately owned collection of its type in the world. These objects comprise ritual clothing and ceremonial cloths that tell us much about the traditions of pre-Islamic Indonesian cultures, as well as about the influences of regional trade with China, India, the Arab world, and Europe. As with his earlier volume, The Textiles of Japan (Prestel, 2018), Murray presents each object with impeccable photographs that allow readers to appreciate exquisite craftsmanship, colors, patterns, and intricate details. Geographically arranged, this volume pays particular attention to textiles from the Batak and the Lampung region of Sumatra, the Dayak of Borneo, and the Toraja of Sulawesi, as well as rare textiles from Sumba, Timor and other islands. Readers will learn about the painstaking and highly developed dyeing, weaving, and beading techniques that have been practiced for centuries, resulting in a breathtaking collection of motifs, patterns, dyes, and adornments. Original texts by leading international experts - including a bilingual preface from the Indonesian-born textile specialist, Sandra Sardjono - draw on the latest research to offer historical context, unspool the mysteries behind ancient iconography, and provide new insights into dating and provenance. At once opulent and scholarly, this book arrives at a moment of growing interest in Southeast Asian culture and also carries the imprimatur of one of the art world's leading collectors.

Thomas Murray is a dealer of Asian and tribal art, with emphasis on antique Indonesian sculpture and textiles. He has been a contributing editor to HALI magazine for almost thirty years, serves as its in-house consultant on ethnographic textiles, and has featured in more than 50 publications. He lives in California.
Sandra Sardjono is president of the Tracing Patterns Foundation, a non-profit organization that promotes textile study.
Itie van Hout is the former curator of textiles at the Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam, and is the author of a number of books on Indonesian textiles
Fiona Kerlogue is a research associate in the Centre of South East Asian Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London. She was formerly curator of Asian Anthropology at the Horniman Museum in London.
Robyn Maxwell is the retired curator of the Department of Asian Art at the Australian National Gallery, Canberra.