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Patterned Splendour: Textiles Depicted on Javanese Sculpture, 8th to 15th cent

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A virtual talk with Dr. Lesley Pullen (Department of History of Art and Archaeology, SOAS University of London). Moderated by Dr. Paul Lavy (Department of Art and Art History, University of Hawai’i at ²ÑÄå²Ô´Ç²¹). Numerous free-standing figurative sculptures produced in Java between the eighth and the fifteenth century feature a sartorial style displaying detailed textile patterns. As the equatorial climate of Java has precluded the survival of any local textiles from this period, these statues represent our only remaining evidence of the splendour of such medieval textiles. This talk will address the complexities of researching and analysing such a variety of sculptures in a broad range of materials and will be well illustrated with photographs and supporting images of similar 20th century cloths. Using empirical methodology and with the support of detailed line drawings the textile patterns are revealed. This talk will explore some of the complex patterned textiles revealed on these sculptures and their possible origins in China and Indo-Persia, placing Java and Sumatra within a cosmopolitan world.

Event Sponsor
Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CALL), Mānoa Campus

More Information
n/a, cseas@hawaii.edu,