Regalia

Membership in Newar Buddhist monasteries includes individuals from the Vajrācārya and Śākya castes who serve as Tantric Buddhist householder monks. Of this population, the ten eldest members of each monastery are known as the Daśa Sthavira Ājus (Ten Elders of the Highest Esteem). Because of their position, these Ājus are the ritual specialists for their communities and serve as exemplars of the monastic ideal in Newar society. This paper explores the ways in which Newar Buddhists at the Kwā Bahā monastic complex in Patan, Nepal, utilize ceremonial dress to reinforce their Buddhist identity and publicly reaffirm their ancient Buddhist heritage in Nepal. This study, the first to analyze the Ājus’ ceremonial regalia, provides an analysis of the garments, headdresses, and ornaments worn by these figures to explain the ways in which dress embeds Buddhist iconographic symbolism into Newar visual culture. Additionally, this paper demonstrates that the ritual veneration of the Ājus gives their regalia agency, reinforcing their public, ritual role as living embodiments of buddhahood. [PDF of article available in link]

Thread and Fire - Textiles and Jewellery from the Isles of Indonesia and Timor is a fascinating journey through the centuries-old trade networks that developed across a group of archipelagos along the equator. Of the 18,000 islands, more than 900 are permanently settled by over 360 ethnic groups, speaking 700 languages and dialects. For centuries this vast and rich environment favoured local and regional exchanges, and it was only later that people visited from afar. New connections integrated these archipelagos with the distant civilizations of continental Asia: first India, later China and from the 13th century onwards, the Islamic world. Finally, with the arrival of Europeans in the early 16th century, global trade and connections grew rapidly. Spices and forest and sea products were the focus of foreign interests, and textiles were the currency for their acquisition. These imported textiles, complemented with ornaments and jewellery, soon became part of the region’s social fabric, indispensable items of gift and exchange, essential markers for the enactment of ceremonies, rites of passage and signifiers of rank and prestige.

The book Thread and Fire explores and illustrates these ancient connections and traditions through Indonesian and Timorese textiles, regalia and jewellery from the Francisco Capelo Collection, assembled over a 20-year period and now part of the permanent collection of Casa Asia-Coleção Francisco Capelo in Lisbon (to open in 2020-2021).

Linda S. McIntosh’s text explores the historical links that have played such a potent role in these traditional island societies. She has written numerous articles and a book on Southeast Asian textile culture, and her academic background includes a multi-disciplinary approach to the study of textiles, history, anthropology, linguistics and art history.         

24x29 cm, 344 pages, 265 colour photos

Kraljevska je krunidba jedan od najznačajnijih rituala srednjega vijeka. U to doba kada ceremonije i zakletve znače više od pisanih sporazuma, krunidbe su bile ne samo javno predstavljanje novoga vladara, već ritual kojim je kralj na sebe preuzimao svjetovnu i božansku moć. Ceremonija se odvijala unutar crkve,a uključivala je i pomazanje svetim uljem. Tijekom krunidbe vladaru su se predavale insignije poput mača, jabuke i žezla - simbola vlasti, časti i službe. Za neke je zemlje, poput Francuske, sam čin krunidbe bio tek jedan od segmenata kraljevske inauguracije u koju također spadaju entrèe (trijumfalni ulazak u Pariz) te lit de justice (prvo zasjedanje kralja u Parlamentu) te pogreb prethodnog vladara u crkvi Saint-Denis. Neki od glavnih elemenata krunidbe svakako su sudionici, mjesto, vrijeme i procedura obreda. Najvažniji izvori za proučavanje krunidba jesu liturgijski tekstovi koji nose naziv Pravilnik (ordo) radi se o preciznim ali ipak općenitim uputama koje obuhvaćaju sve s...