\nNew Straits Times, Malaysia
\nBernama
\nNEW YORK, FRI:
\nAn international expert on Islamic influence on textile is \u201cdeeply impressed\u201d with Malaysias textile culture.
\n
\nElisa Gagliardi-Mangilli, fresh from a visit to Malaysia where she was accompanied by Datin Amy Hamidon, the wife of Datuk Hamidon Ali, the New York based Malaysian permanent representative to the United Nations, said she had an \u201coverview\u201d of Malaysias textile culture dating back to the 19th century, the time from when textiles manufactured in the country have been preserved.<\/p>\n
Gagliardi-Mangilli is a senior fellow at the prestigious Metropolitan Museum of Art (MMOA) in New York and a member of CIETA, the Centre International dEtudes des Textiles Anciens.<\/p>\n
She has authored books on collections of old textiles from Siam, China, etc. which belonged to the royal family of Thailand. Some of the titles of the books authored by her include \u201cPrinted and Painted Textiles of the 18th Century\u201d and \u201cLArte Di Fabbricare LIndiane\u201d (How to Produce the Printed and Painted Textiles of India).<\/p>\n
She has also written many articles, including one on the famous Kashmiri shawl which is widely sold in India.
\nGagliardi-Mangilli, who is currently on a two-year loan from the University of Insubria in Italy and doing research for the MMOA on the differences and similarities in the Islamic textiles of the Persian Safavid era and the Indian Moghul courts, says that pre-19th century Malaysia-made textiles were not available.<\/p>\n
She also got a \u201csneak preview\u201d of the textile collections of some of the royal families of Malaysia.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy interest in Malaysian textiles was first aroused by Amy Hamidon, and I gave a lecture on the Islamic and Indian textiles and their influences on European and Southeast Asian textiles. I shall publish my research on Safavid and Moghul velvets.<\/p>\n
\u201cI visited Malaysia from August 7 to 16 to understand the quality and variety of the textile collections of the Royal families of Malaysia. I visited Kelantan, Johor Baharu, Melaka and Kuala Lumpur where we saw textiles in the local museums,\u201d she said in an interview with Bernama at the residence of the Malaysian permanent representative.<\/p>\n
Gagliardi-Mangilli, an expert on the intricate weaving and designing of textile fabrics of a number of Asian countries, is trying to publish a voluminous book on the \u201ctextile treasures\u201d of Malaysia, particularly the<\/p>\n
\u201cfabulous collections\u201d of the countrys royal families. The book will highlight the cultural heritage of the royal families.<\/p>\n
She felt a sense of loss that she was unable to find Malaysian textiles before the 19th century. \u201cTextiles from the 19th century onwards were preserved in good condition. I saw songket, batik and other textile pieces, all in beautiful colours and designs,\u201d she observed. But she said that the ubiquitous influence of Indian textiles, in particular, on Malaysian textiles was unmistakable.<\/p>\n
\u201cSoutheast Asian textile producers relied heavily in those times on Indian textiles and copied them. However, the quality of Malaysian fabrics is good and so is the gold used for some of the fabrics,\u201d she pointed out.<\/p>\n
She discerned that Malaysian textiles were characterized by a combination of Ikat (involving the use of threads already dyed and pre-determined patterns) technique. Ikat, she explained, can be seen in the piece called `Kain Limar\u2019 in Malay language.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have taken pictures with the magnifying lenses to count the number of threads. I will be categorising the textiles and hope to visit Malaysia as soon as I possibly can for a second categorisation.<\/p>\n
\u201cSubsequently, I will search for a publisher in the United States, Italy, India or elsewhere. India, as you know, has an ancient tradition of textile manufacturing,\u201d Gagliardi-Mangilli said.<\/p>\n
She was very excited about her first encounter with Malaysias \u201crich textile culture\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, the visit was very fruitful for me,\u201d she concluded<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New Straits Times, Malaysia Bernama NEW YORK, FRI: An international expert on Islamic influence on textile is \u201cdeeply impressed\u201d with Malaysias textile culture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n