Songket

[
thumbnail|upright|right|Minangkabau songket, the pattern in the lower third representing bamboo sprouts]

Songket is a fabric that belongs to the brocade family of textiles. It is hand-woven in silk or cotton, and intricately patterned with gold or silver threads. The metallic threads stand out against the background cloth to create a shimmering effect. In the weaving process the metallic threads are inserted in between the silk or cotton weft (latitudinal) threads. The term "songket" comes from the Malay word "menyongket", ‘to embroider with gold or silver threads’. Songket is a luxury product traditionally worn during ceremonial occasions as sarong, shoulder cloths or head ties. Tanjak or Songket headdresses were worn at the courts of the Malay Sultanates. [ [http://www.puratanjungsabtu.com/PTSsongket.html "The Art of Songket"] ] Traditionally Muslim women and adolescent girls wove songket; "some boys and men are also weaving today". [ [http://www.holycross.edu/publicaffairs/press_releases/2006-2007/07_02_15a"Gold Cloths of Sumatra: Indonesia’s Songkets from Ceremony to Commodity", Cantor Art Gallery, Worcester, Massachusetts, 2007] , curated by Susan Rodgers and Anne and John Summerfield] Traditionally-patterned Sumatran textiles embody a system of interpretable emblems.

In Indonesia, songket is produced in Sumatra, Kalimantan, Bali, Sulawesi, Lombok and Sumbawa. Outside of Indonesia, further production areas include the east coast of the Malay Peninsula and Brunei.cite journal |last=Uchino |first=Megumi |title=Socio-cultural history of Palembang Songket |journal=Indonesia and the Malay World |volume=33 |issue=96 |pages=205–223 |month=July | year=2005 |publisher=Routledge |doi=10.1080/13639810500283985] Songket weaving is historically associated with areas of Malay settlement, and the production techniques could have been introduced by Arab and Indian merchants. Historically, production was located in politically significant kingdoms because of the high cost of materials; the gold thread used was originally wound with real gold leaf.

References

*cite book
last = Summerfield
first = Anne
coauthors = John Summerfield
title = Walk in Splendor: Ceremonial Dress and the Minangkabau
publisher = UCLA
year= 1999
id = ISBN 0-930741-73-0

Further reading

*Smith, Holly S. "Aceh Art and Culture" (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press), 1997.

Notes