num_pages: 176
description: Sumptuous textiles have been produced and worn in great variety by the different peoples living in Burma. Through the centuries these have inspired the recordings of artists and writers, from votive temple murals, to the documents of awed visitors. Travellers have brought vivid examples of these textiles back to museums and collections around the world. In Burma today (and for its dispersed communities) woven textiles continue to play an important role in defining personal and group identity. Textiles from Burma introduces the richness of these textile traditions, lavishly illustrated with examples from the James Henry Green collection at Brighton Museum, and from other collections around the world. The volume introduces themes relating to the history, production, meaning, collection and continuing impact of textiles from Burma. It explores these themes in social, cultural and wider contexts. It investigates aspects of collecting and documentation in colonial and modern times, examining the histories and identities that are made and re-made as textiles are collected and written about. The authors' investigations range from the sumptuary laws of the last Burmese court of the 1880s, to the dress and identity of people in exile on Burma's borders today. They explore extinct weaving processes, such as the textile texts that once wrapped sacred manuscripts; they discuss the processes of re-invention which give traditional costumes value in a changing modern world. Each thematic case study is underpinned by an introduction to the weaving traditions of its particular region. Technical details are explained in a glossary of technical terms, and an appendix provides an annotated list of keytextile collections from Burma around the world.
language: English
title: Textiles from Burma: Featuring the James Henry Green Collection
titlecomplete: Textiles from Burma: Featuring the James Henry Green Collection
publisher: Art Media Resources Ltd