However, it appears as if the piece was woven by Koho
(probably the nearby Lach sub -group) and obtained by the Chru through trade.
Vietnamese authors commonly simply state that the traditional dress of the
Chru is similar to that of the Cham, but that it has largely vanished. Chu Thai
Son (1997: 25-26) notes that weaving is not well developed among the Chru and
that they often obtain cloth from the Cham, Koho, Roglai, and Maa. This does
not, however, rule out the possibility that at some time in the past the Chru
.did produce warp Ikat patterned textiles themselves.
There are only a few Brao in Vietnam living in a single
village Ngoc Hoi District, Kon Tum Province. Most Brao live in Laos (where
they are known as Lawae) and Cambodia. I have encountered a blanket from the
Brao in Vietnam that features bands with diamond shaped warp Ikat patterning.
Similar blankets are also found in Laos and Cambodia among the Brao and have
also been identified by Laotian sources as coming from the Taliang. In Vietnam
the Taliang are included in the JehTrieng ethnic category. The JehTrieng in
Vietnam are not known to have produced cloth with warp Ikat patterning.
However, they are known to make blankets like the Brao
example, but without warp Ikat patterning. Similar cloth without warp Ikat patterning
is known to have been produced by other groups in southern Laos as well. It is
uncertain whether the Taliang in Laos weave Ikat patterned cloth or obtain it
through trade. There is a longstanding tradition of trading cloth among groups
in southern Laos and adjacent Vietnam.
Although at this point it is difficult to ascertain with any
degree of certainty just how widespread the actual production of Ikat
patterned cloth as found on the Brao example was in the past, I do have an idea
about the source of origin of this type of patterned cloth. The motif bears a
striking resemblance to a warp Ikat motif produced by the Cham of Chau Doc and,
therefore, by the Cham in Cambodia in the past as well.
I believe that this particular warp Ikat tradition from the
highlands of northeastern Cambodia, southern Laos, and the Brao of Vietnam is
linked to the Cham of Cambodia and reflects relations between these lowland and
highlands peoples in the past.
Finally, warp Ikat patterned cloth is also woven by the
Bahnar and Regnao. The warp Ikat patterns are fairly simple and are found on
cloth used for women's wrap-around skirts and blouses. The Bahnar live
primarily in Kon Tum Province, but are also found in Gia Lai Province and in
the western parts of Binh Dinh, and Phu Yen provinces. The Regnao live adjacent
to the Bahnar in Kon Tum Province and are sometimes treated as a sub-group of
the Bahnar.
The Bahnar have a long history of relations with the Cham
of Quang Ngai and Binh Dinh provinces.
The Bahnar may in fact once have lived near the coast and
there are also Cham architectural remains in the upland Bahnar area. Even
today Bahnar sometimes visit markets in neighboring lowland areas. While the
Cham in this area long ago vanished following their conquest by the Vietnamese,
it is likely that Bahnar and Regnao warp Ikat weaving was learned from the
Cham.
Weft Ikat
Weft Ikat patterning is much more common among the Tai
peoples of Vietnam than warp Ikat weave. Weft Ikat refers to a resist dyeing
process where the weft threads are patterned prior to weaving. In contrast to
warp Ikat weaving, weft Ikat weaving in Southeast Asia is commonly perceived
as being a more recent innovation linked to Indian influence. Fraser-Lu (1988:
45) notes: "it is generally believed that the technique of tying and
dyeing weft threads to create textile patterns was introduced into South-East
Asia via Indian traders around the fourteenth or fifteenth centuries."
This is quite obviously the case with the weft Ikat cloth woven by the Khmer
in Cambodia, Thailand, and southern Vietnam. The Khmer in turn influenced
weavers in Burma.
Indian influence is also apparent with the weft Ikat silk
cloth woven in coastal Sumatra and neighboring islands, along coastal Borneo,
and among the Moslems of the southern Philippines.
While the Indian origins of most weft Ikat weaving in
Southeast Asia is undeniable, there remains the possibility that not all weft Ikat
weaving in the region came from this source and that there was an earlier tradition
of weft Ikat weaving that is local in origin. This possibility was raised by
Buhler (1942: 1604) in an early article where he commented in regard to weft Ikat
cloth woven on Bali and Java that "on technical grounds ... there is no
reason to assume that this development did not take place in Indonesia."
Few students of Indonesian textiles today would agree with this position and it
is much more likely that these particular weft Ikat traditions also owe their
origins to Indian sources. More problematic, however, is the weft Ikat weaving
tradition of the Tai speaking peoples of Vietnam and Laos.
