Mingnankabau Songket Shoulder Cloth

This gold thread Songket looks great as a coffee table runner.  Currently it sits handsomely in my display cabinet of miniature old Singapore food stalls.

This silk shoulder cloth or runner is brocaded with gold, and finished with gold metallic bobbin lace.  12"x 48." The continuous supplementary-weft technique makes the piece reversible, and either face may be used as the front.

• Name: Minangkabau ceremonial woman head cloth or shoulder  cloth (tengkuluak).
• Origin:  Minangkabau people, West Sumatra Indonesia.
• Dimension: size 77" or 195 cm x 18" or 46 cm.
• Material: Silk, gold threat, silver threat, supplementary weft weave

This runner from Pandai Sikek could have been used for either a shoulder cloth or as part of the magnificent horned headwrap worn by Minangkabau women for ceremonial occasions. Its handsome khaki silk background is almost completely covered by gold-wrapped songket designs. Metallic bobbin lace has been added to the top and bottom edges. The metal used in this piece is a soft, pale gold color and not shiny; overall the effect is rich, subtle and elegant

Hmong Silk Tapestry



Makes a beautiful fashion piece or mounted under glass and would also make a beautiful wall hanging.



This is a rare antique SILK Tapestry made by the Hmong Hilltribes of Northern Laos. These people are well known around the world for there intricate weavings and embroidery work. This particular piece is woven silk on cotton or hemp. Animals are very sacred to the hill tribes of this region. This one is heavily woven in silk with ELEPHANTS, ANIMALS, and GEOMETRIC DESIGNS. These pieces are becoming very hard to find. Designers from Europe and America are showing up and copying many of the designs of the Hmong hill tribes. . When opened measures 70" long x 17.5" wide. A MASTERPIECE of embroidery which needs to be seen and felt to really appreciate the quality and amount of time consuming effort to produce it.

Tampans

Tampans, beautiful & unique Indonesian textiles (Ship Cloths)

Tampans make very nice decor as cushion covers, placemats and drapes.  I  bought these from local Singapore antique stores selling Indonesian teak furniture and Ebay.

These textiles, with a boat as the central motif, were principally ceremonial and ritual cloths of great importance in Sumatran life. The boat motifs were associated with community and life journey. Accordingly, ship cloths were used at life-cycle ceremonies such as birth, tooth-filing, marriage and funeral.

The ship cloths are linked not only to the ancient animistic religious beliefs of Sumatra but they reflect historical changes in the region. Textiles were enmeshed in cultural transformations of south-east Asia, along with evolving native beliefs and practices, as well as experiences brought about by colonisation and trade. Interestingly, the ship motif changed as a result of different types of vessels sailing through the area, including European and Chinese ships.Sumatran textiles reflect these changes via chronological and regional variations.
 

The elaborate ship motifs were transformed as different influences came to the island. The ship iconography can vary from simple boat forms coupled with imaginary beasts to scenes of ships bearing courtiers, crew and royal elephants. The human figures sometimes appear in the refined style of the Javanese Wayang (shadow puppets) and indicate the immigration of Javanese people to Sumatra. Sometimes the ship is transformed into the dragon naga boat of Chinese design. At other times, usually later, it resembles the Dutch galleon with masts and flying Dutch tri-coloured flags. In the final phases of the tampan cloth the ships become geometric and stylised as a result of Islamic influence and expansion throughout the region. Ship cloths are now very rare and are no longer produced as Islamic influences becoming stronger in local cultures.
Ship cloth appears in different forms in Sumatra.
 
The palepai are long rectangular cloths which were hung as ceremonial banners. Palepai were cloths of the local clan leaders and nobility and were essential at ceremonies such as weddings and funerals for the local leaders. The cloths were often passed to the eldest son of the clan or district elder as a symbol of hereditary leadership.
Tampan cloths were small and square, often used at wedding, tooth-filing and circumcision rituals. They were made by women for more common-use than the palepai cloth but were still considered an important ceremonial accessory. The style and number of cloths owned by a family would represent their rank in society. Tampan types were often paired with lampit, a slightly larger square or rectangular mat-like cloth, made by men. They were paired together as ritual objects to symbolise the male and female elements of the universe and after ceremonies stored in the umbrella-shaped temples of the region.
Tatibin were smaller and rarer than the tampan and palepai cloths and were commonly used as decorations for the seating platform for the bride and groom at wedding ceremonies.
http://australianmuseum.net.au/Ship-cloths-of-Sumatra

Chinese Hmong Hemp Fabric Cross Stitch Embriodery

This finely embroidered cross stitch makes a nice hanging in any corner of the house.  It is hanging on a matching antique loom stick from Burma.

Unique CHinese Hmong HEMP Fabric CROSS STITCH EMBROIDERY

for Decoration

18-21 Inches x 7-9 Inches

 I bought this from Ebay.  



Most scholars believe the Hmong migrated to southeastern China from central Asia approximately 5000 years ago. In the early 1800s, thousands of Hmong left China and settled high in the mountains of Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), and Thailand. In 1893 many of these Hmong settlements were incorporated into French Indochina, a French colony encompassing Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.

With French encouragement, many Hmong turned to opium cultivation during World War II (1939-1945). When Japan invaded French Indochina in 1940, Hmong militias, under the leadership of Toby Ly Foung, aided the French. After the Japanese surrender in 1945, the Viet Minh, a Vietnamese nationalist group, resisted the restoration of French rule in Vietnam. Some Hmong sided with the French and others joined the nationalist forces. On May 8, 1954, the Viet Minh overwhelmed the French army in the Battle of Dien Bien Phu.

Following the French defeat, negotiations held in Geneva, Switzerland, resulted in the division of Vietnam into northern and southern zones. The United States gradually entered the conflict as allies of the new South Vietnamese government. In North Vietnam, the Viet Minh set up a Communist regime and attempted to reunify the country. As the Vietnam War erupted and spread into neighboring Laos, agents of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) recruited Hmong to fight against the Communists. Under the leadership of Vang Pao, a Hmong officer in the Lao military, the Hmong waged guerrilla warfare against the Communists in Laos and Vietnam from 1961 to 1975. Hmong soldiers monitored and attacked enemy supply lines, rescued downed American pilots, and ambushed Communist soldiers. They also guarded radar installations in northern Laos used to guide American bombers over Laos and North Vietnam. At the war’s peak, Vang Pao commanded a force of nearly 30,000 men. The whole operation remained secret because it violated an agreement guaranteeing the neutrality of Laos that was signed by the United States and 13 other countries in 1961.

In 1975 the United States withdrew its forces from all of Southeast Asia. Hundreds of thousands of Hmong, fearing revenge from the victorious Communist governments of Vietnam and Laos, fled to Thailand. There, Hmong families crowded into crude refugee camps, often without adequate supplies of food and water. Although the United Nations (UN) and international relief agencies brought supplies and services to the camps, many refugees died from disease in the first few years.

http://www.galenfrysinger.com/hmong_costumes.htm