Silk mat mi styles of antique Thai textiles from Isan

April 28, 2010 - PRLog -- The ikat technique gives only the most beautiful designs were made in silk and was reserved for women's tube-skirts and long cloths for both men and women. The tube-skirts of the Lao groups was smaller than that of the Cambodian groups.  Another striking difference was the use of three shafts in the Cambodian pieces whereas the Lao used only two shafts.  The result of the three shafts was a weft faced fabric which showed off the weft ikat to its maximum.

The Lao Loum and Tai Phuan styles:
The Lao Loum and Tai Phuan wove silk mat mi tube-skirts which are too similar to differentiate unless the traditional waist bands are in place.  The Tai Phuan favoured a waist band made in red silk with supplementary stripes while the Lao Loum used multi colors cotton striped fabric.  The mat mi patterns of these tube-skirts included geometric motifs representing the "nak", a protective river dragon, animals such as spiders and snakes, plants and flowers such as pine trees, sandalwood and jasmine and fruits such as watermelon and pineapple.

The favorite arrangements for these motifs was within a lattice-work which covered the whole piece, design that grew from the hem or in narrow bands with a line at the selvage of the lower part of the tube-skirt to indicate the placing of the hem piece.

The hem pieces, woven in a narrow band of compound weave were added to protect the main skirt cloth from damage.  After the development of the silk industry in central Isan by King Rama V, the width of these tube-skirts increased from around thirty-six inches to forty inches and thus the waist band and/or hem piece were not added in central Isan areas after this period whereas the upper Isan pieces kept the old structure.

Some mat mi tube-skirts were woven on a red and black striped warp. These warps were normally prepared for the weaving of plain tube-skirts used by older women called "sin thieu" but may have been left over and used for mat mi designs which gave these pieces an extra dimension.  The Lao Loum and Tai Phuan wove their silk ikats in a two shaft plain weave.

The Phutai style:
The silk mat mi tube-skirts of the Phutai in central Isan maintained their narrow width with added hem pieces and waist bands.  The Phutai attached waist bands similar to the Tai Phuan, red silk with supplementary weft patterns.  The hem pieces were very narrow, sometimes only an inch wide with dense compound weave in a strong ribbon-like form with bands of alternating colors.  The Phutai favored red, yellow and green in their ikat patterns with black or dark purple as the ground color.  The Phutai groups used a two shaft twill to weave their mat mi and preferred to weave the ikat yarns alternated with plain colored yarns creating a dot matrix effect.  This method of weaving mat mi was called mi luang.

The Khmer Sung style:
The Khmer Sung of lower Isan wove their mat mi with three shafts making this a distinct feature among other mat mi in Isan.  Their favorite design was an intricate ikat pattern called "mi hol" used for women's tube-skirts.  The original structure of the mi hol design was as a long cloth up to four meters in length to be worn in the pantaloon style by women.  This method of wearing the cloth was called “chongkraben” which was used by both men and women.

The mi hol is an ancient design with strong taboos which have protected it against the winds of change.  The tiny ikat pattern was made in yellow and green with a red or purple-brown ground.  As the area was very dry they did not grow cotton and used their old silk mi hol tube-skirts to work in thus it is rare to find old pieces.

The Khmer Sung tube-skirts were much wider and longer than other Isan textiles. Sometimes a white cotton waist band was added and rarely a separate hem piece made in mat mi was added.  This unusual structure may have been added to imitate the borders of the Khmer long cloths.  The structure of the long cloths was based on a trade textile known as the patola sari from India.

This sari was traded throughout Southeast Asia and became a symbol of wealth.  Village women tried to imitate its beauty and today many versions of the structure exist.  The long cloths had a central field design bordered on the two selvages by geometric designs framed by warp stripes.  At the each end of the cloth there were bands of various patterns.  The number and quality of these bands indicated the status of the wearer.

Long cloths were woven for Khmer Sung men and for donating to the Siamese court with different elaborate ikat patterns for official and court wear.  These prestigious cloths were removed from court wear in the period of King Rama V, but local people continued to enjoy their use well into twentieth century for Buddhist ordination ceremonies.

They were called "sompuk poom" by the Thai and "sompruat hol kaban" by the Khmer Sung.  These long cloths had bands of plain red and ikat designs at each end of the cloth.  Simple bands of white and red ikat were used by ordinary people while nobles had a band of triangular shaped designs which were made up of different motifs such as birds and hook.

Royalty had two to three bands of these designs.  An important use for these textiles was in the Buddhist ordination ceremony.  Animal and large designs of nak and birds were usually favored for this occasion, thus special textiles were woven for this use.  Bands of plain red silk and mat mi were placed at each end of the textile as before.  Since the middle of the 20th century some other animal motifs such as chickens and peacocks were introduced.  Other modern designs such as roses and lilies have also been woven not only for ordination cloths but also for tube-skirts.

The Buriram style:
In the province of Buriram in lower Isan a group of distinct mat mi textiles were made by Lao people.  These were woven with two shafts and had a striking red band at both selvages thus gaining the nick-name “tin daeng” meaning red hems.  Their patterns and motifs were similar to the Khmer Sung long cloths but the textiles were narrow and sewn into tube-skirts.  A hem design was incorporated in the mat mi pattern on one selvage as part of the whole design.  Red waist bands like those of the Tai Phuan were sometimes added.

The Ubon Ratchathani style:
Lao Loum and Tai Phuan weavers in Ubon Ratchathani, lower Isan, wove mat mi tube-skirts for the Siamese court.  These textiles were distinct from other Isan textiles in their use of silver and gold threads which were woven in continuous supplementary weave bands alternating with mat mi bands.  An elaborate supplementary weave waist band was added called “hoa chok dao” with a gold or silver woven hem piece.  The use of gold and silver threads was usually restricted to the court and many qualities of yarn existed.  Local women would imitate these textiles for wedding costumes using lower quality metal yarns.

Conclusion
Although the mat mi textiles of Isan, northeast Thailand, were made on simple looms and using basic bamboo or wooden equipment, stunning works of art were created.  The patterns were placed into the textile in a complex process known as mat mi or weft ikat.  Thousands of designs were created in a great variety of color combinations.  This wealth of creativity was carried out by village women who were not only hard working but skilled in the planning and organization of the patterns they wove.  With no formal education and in the most meager of living conditions, they were able to bring to life their beliefs and traditions in delicate, harmonious patterns woven in fine silk.  The mat mi textiles of Isan are a legacy to the women that wove them and a treasure to the world.

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Reinhart Frais of Asian Textile Art (http://www.asiantextileart.com/) has copyright to many essays relating to rare, antique Indian and Southeast Asian textiles.