Out Of Asia

Out of Asia

The online exhibition Out of Asia is based on a TRC Gallery display with the title Out of Asia: 2000 Years of Textiles. It was presented at the Textile Research Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands, from 15 July until 15 August 2019, on the occasion of the International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS), which was held at Leiden, between 15-19 July.

The ICAS conference, which attracted some 2300 scholars and others interested in Asian Studies and which was organised by the International Institute for Asian Studies (Leiden), had as its theme 'Asia and Europe, Asia in Europe.' The TRC exhibition Out of Asia complemented the theme with a display of textiles that all reflected on the age-old textile contacts between Asia and Europe. The exhibition at the TRC furthermore coincided with an intensive programme of practical workshops and lectures, which all attracted many participants and a large audience.

The online exhibition is separated into nine separate sections, and each section contains a gallery of objects. All of the objects form part of the TRC collection, and the illustrations give access to the TRC online catalogue for more information. Enjoy!

 

Colophon:

  • Author: Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood
  • Web-design: Joost Koopman
  • Exhibition design: Willem Vogelsang
  • Publisher: TRC Leiden.
  • Year of publication: 2019
  • Copyright: All illustrations of objects housed in the TRC collection can be used free of charge, but please add to the caption: "Courtesy Textile Research Centre, Leiden" and the pertinent accession number of the object.

Feed sack sample with stylised Paisley (buteh) motifs. America, 1930s.

0. Preface and colophon

The online exhibition Out of Asia is based on a TRC Gallery display with the title Out of Asia: 2000 Years of Textiles. It was presented at the Textile Research Centre, Leiden, The…
Chest panel of a woman's outfit from Marken, The Netherlands, mid-20th century. The decoration is modelled after Indian chintz.

1. Introduction

A continuous fascination with exotic and unusual textiles with different textures, colours and designs has for milleniia stimulated the trade in cloth and garments between Asia and Europe. This exchange…
Sample of so-called Akhmim taqueté weave, Egypt, late 20th century.

2. The taqueté ‘family’ of weaves

One particular group of textiles that were transported along the Silk Roads were Chinese multi-coloured silk textiles that were woven with a dominant warp, whereby the weft threads remained hidden…
Woman's jacket from Leiden, The Netherlands, late 18th century, made of chintz from India.

3. Maritime routes

Another important element in the movement of textiles were the maritime routes centred on India that carried textiles to Indonesia, China and eventually to Japan, as well as from India…
Chest panel of a woman's outfit from Marken, The Netherlands, 19th century, modelled after Indian chintz.

4. The island of Marken and Asian textiles

Marken is a fishing village in the Dutch province of Noord-Holland and was formerly an island in the Zuiderzee. With the building of the Afsluitdijk in 1932 the Zuiderzee was…
Sample of a French copy of an Indian chintz, c. 1900.

5. Chintz

Another form of painted and printed cotton textile, which was known as chintz (called sits in Dutch), became especially popular in the 17th century and was widely used for clothing,…
Child's jacket from Marken, The Netherlands, early 20th century, with the paisley/buteh motif.

6. The Kashmiri shawl and the ‘Paisley’ motif

The Himalayan goat grows a fine ‘under fleece’ that enables it to survive the Himalayan winters. This under-fleece (cashmere) is woven by Kashmiri weavers into beautifully fine and soft shawls,…
Sample of cloth with Japan-inspired decoration, Europe, mid-20th century.

7. Some Asian influences in the 19th and 20th centuries

Japan became a major influence on northern European art and design at the end of the 19th century, when a craze for ‘all things Japanese’ (Japonism) swept across Europe. The…
Vlisco cloth with a design of Indonesian-style hairpins on a green ground, early 21st century.

8. VLISCO and Asian textiles

The Dutch company of Vlisco was founded in 1846 when Pieter Fentener van Vlissingen bought an existing textile printing factory in the town of Helmond. At that time the company…
Dress made from an Hazara dress bodice from Afghanistan and a skirt made from an Uzbek suzani (needlework), sold in the 1970s under a Dutch designer's label.

9. The Hippie trail and after

During the 1960s and the decades that followed, many young people travelled to Central Asia and the Far East in search of adventure and truth. Some discovered that it was…

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