In this double webinar session, Dr Natalie Ong and Dr Sandra Sardjono presented on the topics of relief sculpture as well as dress and textile representations in Southeast Asia. These art forms serve as records of the high degree of artistic sophistication reached by some polities and societies in both Continental and Island Southeast Asia of the past.
TEMASEK HISTORY RESEARCH CENTRE
ARCHAEOLOGY AND ART HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST ASIA PROGRAMME WEBINAR
Wednesday, 4 August 2021 – The ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute hosted a webinar titled “Introduction to Southeast Asian Relief Sculpture & Dress and Textile Representation in Southeast Asia” by Dr Natalie Ong (independent scholar) and Dr Sandra Sardjono (founder of the Tracing Patterns Foundation, California), both art historians who specialise in Indonesia and Southeast Asia. The webinar was part of the Temasek History Research Centre’s Archaeology and Art History Programme of Southeast Asia and was moderated by one of the programme’s conveners Dr Helene Njoto.
The double webinar session kicked off with Dr Natalie Ong’s general introduction about relief sculpture in Southeast Asia. Before delving into the complexities of topics represented by Southeast Asian sculptors, Dr Ong first carefully defined the visual and technical aspects of relief sculpture and their specificities in the region. She clarified the distinction between high and low reliefs and the different types of surfaces used, indicating that most reliefs were found on architectural surfaces, with coloured stucco plaster. Dr Ong further explained the difference between the two methods of sculpture, the additive and the subtractive, which is the most common method, used for example by the Borobudur temple sculptors, as shown in the famous temple’s Hidden Base.
Showing a few unfinished reliefs from this temple, she demonstrated how historical information could be retrieved from studying reliefs, such as sculpting methods and social organisation among expert craftsmen, some specialising in flora, others in objects, architecture or human figures. Delving into further sociological aspects about this art form, she showed how historians could gain knowledge about the circulation of ideas, social practices and attitudes. Taking an example from a Ramayana relief she demonstrated how experts were able to understand the early existence of a localised version of the Indian Epic dating from as early as the 8th c. Finally, Dr Ong showed how social hierarchy as well the position of women in society was subtly reflected in these reliefs, through subtle arrangement of scenery, the use of proportions as well as objects such as jewellery.
In the second part of the webinar session, Dr Sandra Sardjono gave a presentation on dress and textiles and their representations on relief sculpture and statuary in Southeast Asia. Dr Sardjono introduced her presentation by reminding the audience about the significance of these sculpted representations as an exceptionally rich source of information, given the scarcity of textual and material evidence. The few known textual sources, mostly Chinese, all agree on textile being used as a currency for trade and barter, and high end imported textiles being signs of prestige and gifts at official ceremonies. After a brief overview on the most common types of textile traditions in the region (Warp and Weft Ikat, Songket and Batik), Dr Sardjono invited the audience to explore the variety and ubiquity of Southeast Asian motifs, such as the circles and dots pattern, the lion, floral and pearl roundels, flowers, fauna, hamsa/goose, patola and coin motifs, some circulating through various media (textiles but also ceramics, architecture décor, furniture, etc.).
This richly illustrated demonstration brought further evidence of textile as a precious source of information on the dynamism of the Spice route trade network between China and India primarily. Furthermore, the examples shown demonstrated that this region was also connected to polities and production centres as far as the Middle East, as seen from the Sasanian (223-651) Pearl-roundel pattern sculpted in Central-Java. The overlapping circles motif popular in 14th c. Java and found in Egypt is another example of the connectedness of Southeast Asia during the early historical period.
A lively question-and-answer session followed, with participants asking about the antiquity, geographical provenance and meaning of specific motifs sculpted in relief or weaved in textiles, about the transfer of motifs from one material to another, about how other sources such as inscriptions can complement reliefs sculpture, and other questions regarding techniques. The webinar attracted over 250 participants, mostly from Singapore and Southeast Asia.
