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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

A book of this scope could not have been written without incurring debts of gratitude to a great many people and a large number of institutions. While I cannot thank each one personally, I would like to acknowledge the great support which was generously given, and without which my research could not have been carried out.

I would particularly like to thank my good friend, Professor J. A. C. Mackie, formerly Research Director of the Centre of Southeast Asian Studies at Monash University and Professor of the Department of Political and Social Change at the Australian National University. Jamie was the first to encourage me to make a serious and extensive study of Indonesian textiles and he has continued to be supportive in many large and small ways during the course of my work.

My initial period of research in Indonesia from 1976 to 1978 was made possible by an award from the Myer Foundation of Australia under its Asia and Pacific Grant-in-Aid programme, efficiently administered at that time by Ms Meriel Wilmot. The research in Indonesia was carried out under the auspices of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences and the sponsorship of the Institute of Textile Technology, Bandung. I am grateful to the Research Director of the Bandung institute, Mr Wibowo Moerdoko, for his interest in the project and his understanding, and to Sofian for his company and assistance during one of our visits to Sumatra.

Research throughout Indonesia was only made possible by the courteous assistance of a large number of government officials from the Departments of the Interior, Industry, Culture and Education. Invariably, at all levels of government our papers and permits were efficiently processed and useful practical information and advice was often forthcoming in discussions with interested and knowledgeable administrators. On many occasions, officials took time from their own busy routines to accompany us to specific places of interest.

The vital part of my two years' work in Indonesia was carried out in villages throughout the archipelago where weaving and traditional textiles are still a central part of life and culture. I wish to thank the many kind people who shared their homes and their food with us during my fieldwork in their region. Above all, I wish to acknowledge the women who patiently demonstrated the intricate processes, techniques and procedures of their textile art. I am also indebted to the men and women who spent many hours explaining the meaning of their cloth to me, and in particular, those who honoured me by displaying their own treasured possessions, family heirlooms and items of sacred ritual, and by allowing photographs to be taken. There are too many people to name and it would be unfair to single out individuals. My debt to these people is impossible to repay, but any merit in this work is in large part a reflection of the long, tiring but exhilarating days spent in the company of so many.

During my work in Indonesia, I received courteous assistance from the staff of the National Museum and the Textile Museum in Jakarta and provincial museums in Banda Aceh, Palembang, Bukit Tinggi, Den Pasar and Ujung Pandang, and I wish in particular to thank Dra Suwati Kartiwa and D. Sufwandi Mangkudilaga. I am also pleased to acknowledge the advice and assistance I received in Indonesia from a large number of knowledgeable but necessarily anonymous informants, private collectors and admirers of fine textiles.

I also owe a great deal to many friends for their personal support during the period of my research in Indonesia. I particularly wish to thank my Bandung friends Danny and Helen Lok and the Hardjono family for their numerous acts of kindness and a close friendship maintained over many years. Elsewhere in Indonesia I must acknowledge the assistance of Erawati and Verra Darwiko, Mr and Mrs Bonaparte Hutagalung, Abdurahim and his family, Chris and Bronwyn Rose, and Helen and Philip Jessup.

In 1978-79 I was pleased to receive a vacation scholarship from the Australian National University in the Department of Anthropology in the Research School of Pacific Studies which enabled me to pursue library research. In 1983 a Netherlands Government Scholarship provided me with the opportunity to examine in detail the historic European collections of Southeast Asian textiles established during the colonial period.

I received invaluable assistance from the staff of a number of institutions and museums during my research there throughout 1983 and during two subsequent research visits to Europe in 1985. In the Netherlands I wish to thank the following people in particular for the access they provided to the collections under their care: Jan Ave and Maria Lahmann at the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Leiden; Rita Bolland, Koos van Brake! and the staff of the registration and photography sections of the Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen; Alit Veldhuisen-Djajasoebrata and the staff of the Museum voor Land-en Volkenkunde, Rotterdam; Rita Wassing-Visser and Suwandi at the Volkenkundig Museum Nusantara, Delft. I also wish to acknowledge the assistance of the staff at the Volkenkundig Museum and the Nederlands Textiel-museum in Tilburg; the Volkenkundig Museum Justinus van Nassau, Breda; the Museum voor het Onderwijs, The Hague; the Princessehof Museum, Leeuwarden; and the Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land-, en Volkenkunde, Leiden.

In other parts of Europe I received generous assistance from Carl-Wolfgang Schumann and Brigitta Schmedding at the Deutsches Textilmuseum, Krefeld; Brigitte Khan Majlis, Karin von Weick and Gisela Volger of the Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum in Cologne; Johanna Agthe of the Museum fur Volkerkunde, Frankfurt; Natasha Nabholz and Urs Ramseyer of the Museum fur Volkerkunde, Basel; and Mmes Bataille and Cousin, M. Dupaigne and the staff of the Phototheque at the Musee de L'Homme, Paris. During my several visits to Europe I have accumulated personal debts to many friends for their support, encouragement and companionship and I would particularly like to thank Rens Heringa, Professor and Mrs P. E. de Josselin de Jong, Henk Maier, and Stuart and Rosemary Robson.

For assistance during a number of brief visits to the United Kingdom, I would like to express thanks to the staff of the following institutions: the Victoria and Albert Museum; the Museum of Mankind; the Royal Anthropological Society; the Anthropology Museum, Cambridge; the Pitt-Rivers Museum, Oxford; and in particular to Ruth Barnes, Brian Durrans, Henry Ginsburg and Jonathan Hope. I am especially grateful for my long and close friendship with John Guy, Assistant Keeper of the Indian Department at the Victoria and Albert Museum, and for his professional assistance on many occasions.

In the United States of America and Canada, the staff of the following museums were also extremely helpful: the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago; the Textile Museum, Washington; the Museum of Natural History, New York; the Museum of Cultural History and the Anthropological Archives of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; and the Museum of Cultural History at the University of California, Los Angeles. In Canada I was welcomed by the staff of the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto. I would particularly like to thank Mannie Adams, Charlotte Coffman, Dale Gluckman, Mary Kahlenberg, Richard Mellot, Jeff Holmgren and Anita Spertus for their personal interest and professional support. My special thanks, of course, go to Mattiebelle Gittinger who has always encouraged my own textile research and that of others in the Southeast Asian region and whose own work provides a model for the standard of scholarship I would like to achieve.

Elsewhere in Asia, especially during short periods of research in 1983, 1985 and 1988, I have received generous assistance from the staff of various national museums. In particular, I would like to thank Ms Zubaidah at the Museum Negara, Kuala Lumpur; Constance Sheares and Lee Chor Lin of the National Museum, Singapore; Dr Jose Peralta and the photography department of the National Museum, Manila; and the late Ms Chira Chongkol at the National Museum, Thailand. I would also like to thank Piriya Krairiksh for his special assistance during my time in Bangkok. I am especially grateful to Patricia Cheesman, Chiang Mai, for her practical and professional assistance. In India the staff of the Calico Textile Museum in Ahmedabad extended every assistance during a difficult period of reorganization.

At the Australian National Gallery, I thank the Director and the staff of Conservation, Exhibitions, International Art, Photographic Services, Publications and Registry for their assistance on this project. I wish to acknowledge the important contribution of Ruth McNicoll who in 1979 as the then Curator of Primitive Art was responsible for beginning the collection of Southeast Asian textiles at the Australian National Gallery, and who coordinated the early work of the Asian Textiles Advisory Committee. Other Australian museums and art galleries with interests in Asian art have been most supportive, and I wish particularly to thank Dick Richards of the Art Gallery of South Australia, Zoe Wakelin-King of the Australian Museum, and Fiona Leibrick of the Northern Territory Museum of Arts and Sciences.

I am indebted to the editorial and production staff at Oxford University Press and to Peter Shaw for their hard work and professionalism during the many months it has taken to convert a cumbersome manuscript into a handsome book. I am especially grateful to Louise Sweetland, Oxford's Academic Publisher, who has generously given of her time and energy and has been personally supportive in overcoming innumerable difficulties.

I am very grateful for the professional and personal assistance, often inseparable, of many friends and colleagues in Australia during the course of this project. These include Marybeth Clark, Darryl Collins, Christine Dixon, Penny Graham, Mike and Margarete Heppell, Ruurdje Laarhoven, Barbara Leigh, Cecilia Ng, Hugh O'Neill, David Stuart-Fox and S. Supomo. For personal support both in Australia and during periods of research overseas I wish to thank Rob Metherall, Helen Trudgian, and other members of my close family, especially Alison Runnalls and Simeran Maxwell.

Gratitude of a special kind must be directed to the members of the Asian Textiles Advisory Committee of the Australian National Gallery. Without Anthony Forge, Jim Fox, John Maxwell and James Mollison this project could never have succeeded. It was during the lively, lengthy and enlightening meetings of the Committee and the long discussions which developed along with our friendships that many of the ideas arose which form the basis of this book. Each has been very generous with his advice, ideas, encouragement and criticism. I am very thankful for all of these contributions. They cannot be underestimated. Of course John Maxwell has provided the strongest and closest support, from the great discoveries to the final full-stops. Thank you.

Robyn Maxwell

Department of Asian Art

Australian National Gallery

Detail of Plate 245