Pullen, Lesley S. (2017) Representation of textiles on classical Javanese sculpture. PhD thesis. SOAS University of London. http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/26680 Copyright © and Moral Rights for this thesis are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non‐commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder/s. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. When referring to this thesis, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given e.g. AUTHOR (year of submission) "Full thesis title", name of the School or Department, PhD Thesis, pagination. Representation of Textiles on Classical Javanese Sculpture Volume 1 Thesis Lesley S Pullen Thesis submitted for the degree of PhD 2017 Department of the History of Art and Archaeology SOAS University of London i Declaration for SOAS PhD thesis I have read and understood regulation 17.9 of the Regulations for students of the SOAS, University of London concerning plagiarism. I undertake that all the material presented for examination is my own work and has not been written for me, in whole or in part, by any other person. I also undertake that any quotation or paraphrase from the published or unpublished work of another person has been duly acknowledged in the work which I present for examination. Signed: Date: ii Abstract This thesis examines a corpus of free standing figurative sculpture produced in Java over the period 9th to 14th century whose dress displays textiles with detailed patterns. This surviving body of sculpture, carved in stone and cast in metal, varying in both size and condition, now stands in archaeological sites across Java, and within museums in Indonesia and worldwide. Situated a few degrees south of the equator, the climate of Java has precluded any textiles from this period surviving in situ to the present. This thesis argues the textiles represented on these sculptures offer a unique insight into the textiles in circulation in Java during this period. The original contributions to knowledge include the compilation of the first comprehensive record of this body of sculpture, together with their textile patterns, and their classification into a typology of styles. Due to the limited number of inscriptions and texts from this period, this research utilized visual analysis methods to examine the sculptures, supported by images of the sculptures taken by the author and original line drawings of the textiles commissioned by the author. It establishes that during a brief period in the late 13th century the textile patterns carved on the sculptures reached their most diverse and complex. Considering supporting evidence from elsewhere in Asia, this thesis explores the origins of the medieval textiles depicted on the sculptures, and attempts to identify the types of textiles being represented. It also provides some analysis of specific motifs, such as those representing tantric iconography. As this research necessitated a detailed analysis of all the sculptures representing textiles, it also contributes significantly to other aspects of apparel and ornamentation. This thesis further argues the remnants of these patterns be utilized in the stylistic dating of sculpture from this period. iii Acknowledgements One of the privileges of undertaking my PhD research on a part-time basis over six years was the opportunity to meet so many scholars involved in this field. The timetable also afforded me the years necessary to locate all the sculptures which now form the basis of this PhD thesis. These sculptures were to be found in remote sites within the rural landscape of East Java, in local museums across Indonesia and the Netherlands, and in prestigious institutions from St Petersburg to New York. Serendipity also permitted the research of certain sculptures only rarely on display in temporary exhibitions. It was also necessary to employ this time in researching the body of surviving medieval Asian textiles to be found within Indonesia and in public textile collections from Australia to Switzerland. This extensive research has resulted in my being beholden to more individuals in more locations than I could ever imagine acknowledging by name. The initial inspiration for this PhD project lay in a series of articles published by Jan Wisseman Christie from 1991 to 1999, and observations by scholars such as that by Hiram W Woodward in 1977 with which I preface my Introduction. Given the prominence and importance of the drawings throughout this thesis, I offer a special acknowledgement to Ms Yiran Huang MA for interpreting with remarkable accuracy and detail the line drawings of the textile patterns represented on the sculptures. It is customary to commence such acknowledgements with your supervisor, and in my case there are three I need to thank: Elizabeth Moore who was my nurturing supervisor throughout my first five years whilst I assembled all my material, Christian Luczanits who accepted me as his student for my final writing up year, and Stacey Pearson who remained an active and supportive second supervisor throughout. I thank a number of internationally recognized Java scholars in the Netherlands including Pauline Lunsingh Scheurleer, Marijke Klokke and Veronique Degroot whose deep understanding of Javanese art history provided me with my initial direction. A few special individuals on the ground, such as Eko Bastiawan in East Java, Eka Rusdiawanti in Central Java, and Nigel Bullough aka Hadi Sidomulyo at UTC, Trawas, East Java, have played practical roles as local researchers, translators and guides, and provided constructive ideas and general support. Pak Lutfi, Professor of History, University Negeri iv Malang, Pak Dwi Cahyone, University Negeri Malang and Ibu Asti Suryo Astuti, Director, Danar Hadi Textile Gallery, Surakarta have all guided me on the uses of terms in Javanese dress styles. Over the years I have received advice from many art historians on the sculptures including Robert Brown at LACMA in Los Angeles, Edi Sedyawati in Jakarta, Natasha Reichle at the AAM in San Francisco, John Guy at The Met in New York, and Olga Deshpande at the Hermitage in St Petersburg. During the course of my research many textile curators and collectors have shared with me their knowledge of medieval Asian textiles: Jacqueline Simcox in London, Jon Thompson in Oxford, Regula Schorta and her team at the Abegg-Stiftung in Switzerland, Zhao Feng at the CNSM in Hangzhou, James Watt in New York, James Bennett at AGSA in Adelaide, Ruth Barnes at YUAG in New Haven, and Thomas Murray in San Francisco. Several international scholars encouraged me in my research including Annabel Gallop, Arlo Griffiths, Lydia Kieven, Edmund McKinnon, and Jonathan Zilberg. A number of fellow students provided practical support with my fieldwork in Asia including Ida Chow in China and Julia Pratt in Indonesia. In my pursuit of a better understanding of the various specific types of basaltic andesite from which the sculptures were carved, I thank Andy Beard in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Birkbeck, University of London. I received early translation services from Gosta Bergholtz, Joan Bulmer and Academic Affairs, and final proofreading support from Janet Clemo and John Sutcliffe. During my final fieldtrip in May 2016 I received assistance from Liliek Adelina and Pak Among at the Vihara Buddhayana in Jakarta. I also shared my image library with and received constructive feedback from John Miksic, Goh Geok Yian, Helene Njoto and Elizabeth Moore in Singapore, from Hadi Sidomulyo, Ismail Lutfi, Dwi Cahyone and Bambang Budi Utomo in East Java, and from Asti Suryo Astuti in Central Java. I conclude by thanking my husband Diccon for taking the majority of the photographs in the field, and for his constant encouragement and active participation throughout this six year PhD project, and my grown up children Lara and James for temporarily releasing me from my maternal duties. v Notes to Readers Drawing Credits All drawings are by Ms Yiran Huang MA, Royal College of Art, London and remain the sole ©copyright of the author. The commissioned line drawings were completed between 2014 and 2016. Ms Huang graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2015 with an MA in Visual Communication. The drawings are as far as possible an accurate interpretation of the textile patterns, although in some cases the patterns proved difficult to decipher due to surface deterioration. Therefore Ms. Huang used her trained and qualified eye to create the best possible representations which reflect both her own and the author’s interpretations. In most cases she worked in London with the author’s high-resolution photographs, however she also travelled with the author to The Netherlands to study first-hand the sculptures in the RMV-Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde in Leiden and in the TMA-Troppenmuseum, Amsterdam. She was also requested to create a line drawing of the lower limbs depicting the textile pattern on the figures of central Java as seen in Chapter 2. In this way, the reader is able to appreciate more clearly the designs on these sometimes very small figures where the pattern is often not immediately visible from photographs. In the case of the stone sculptures catalogued in Chapters 3 and 4, guidelines were set for Ms Huang to extrapolate the design from the rounded stone surfaces to establish a ‘flat textile pattern’. Each cloth is drawn to the same proportions and is as true a representation as possible of the patterns depicted on the stone surface. In some instances the petals on a flower may not be the same all over the pattern, therefore what she has drawn may not exactly replicate other parts of the image’s dress.