Traditional textiles are one of the most important and widely collected categories of Southeast Asian art. Formed from an extensive range of locally produced and imported raw materials and an astonishing variety of techniques, Southeast Asian textiles are used to fashion a variety of objects-items from everyday clothing to sacred and ceremonial regalia. This authoritative study considers the various ways Southeast Asian textile artisans reacted over the centuries to the steady stream of new ideas and materials arriving from India, China, the Islamic world, and Europe.Originally published in 1990 by the Australian National Gallery and Oxford University Press of Australia, Textiles of Southeast Asia remains the definitive work on Southeast Asian textiles. This revised edition contains a new foreword and updated color photographs. Unlike other books on the subject, Textiles of Southeast Asia is arranged thematically rather than by country. The result is a strong cultural focus and an analysis of how history influenced the region's textile traditions."