Ikats are the most visually dramatic woven textiles produced in Central Asia and have a history dating back to at least the seventeenth century. In Central Asia ikat is known as abr, which in Persian means 'cloud-like', because the motifs appear to float, their edges softly blending into the adjacent colours.

The weaving of ikat textiles was a complicated procedure, whose various component skills were practised by different specialists. These were originally all men, although women cultivated and spun the silk they used until the 2Oth century. Different craftsmen wound the warp threads onto frames, tied the pattern into the yarns, carried out the sequence of dyeing, set up the looms and wove the cloth. Ikats were used to make clothing for both men and women as well as hangings for domestic interiors. The quality of the ikat and its pattern were formerly indicators of social status and professional rank; until the 1800s it was a punishable offence to wear a robe to which you were not entitled.

After the annexation of Central Asia by the Soviet Union and the overthrow of the traditional rulers, family-based craft workshops that catered to the aristocracy were dismantled. Traditional methods were discouraged as being uneconomical and Russian factory products began to swamp the market. The growing demand for ikats by the general population was largely met by machine-printed faux-ikat. Production of true ikats survives however in the Ferghana valley, in both silk and synthetics and often using garish synthetic dyes. Since women were integrated into an open society during Soviet rule, they are now also more integrally involved in the ikat production process.

Ikat designs are drawn from many sources, including Islamic tiles, urban embroidery, nomadic rugs, foreign trade textiles that travelled the Silk Road, and the natural world. A direct design continuity can be traced from early Sogdian silks, in particular mirror reverse motifs, circular compositions, small scale repeat patterns and stylised flowers. Typically, as with this length of satin weave (atlas) ikat, the pattern is symmetrical around a lengthways axis. The individual motifs are however too stylised to identify them clearly.

There are two main approaches to designing ikats in Central Asia, full ikat and strip ikat. In full ikat the entire warp is tie-dyed and the eventual order of warp threads on the loom thus set at the time of dyeing; in strip ikat, narrow strips of warp threads are tie-dyed and the pattern determined by the way these strips are positioned on the loom, often alternating with plain warps, as in this example.

The narrow plain colour stripes which separate the broad ikat stripes in this length of cloth, and the use of half the central ikat band at each side of the cloth reflect the great flexibility inherent in ikat technology. In addition to the infinity of tying and dyeing possibilities, patterned warps can be split, offset and rearranged on the loom.

Ikat has become the generic term for resist-dyed textiles in which the pattern is tied and dyed into the warp or weft threads (or both) prior to weaving. In Central Asia ikat textiles are called abr, which means 'cloud' in Persian and which characterises the particular fuzzy-edged aesthetic of ikats.

Central Asian ikats have particular technological characteristics. Only the warp (lengthways) threads are resist dyed while the weft threads are left plain. The warps are closely set and the wefts widely spaced, a structural relationship that produces a warp-faced fabric and so maximises the ikat patterning. From the end of the 19th century, satin weave was used as an alternative to plain weave, giving rise to the cloth called atlas, like this synthetic example.

The weaving of ikat textiles was a complicated procedure, whose various component skills were practised by different specialists. These were originally all men, although women cultivated and spun the silk they used. Different craftsmen wound the warp threads onto frames, tied the pattern into the yarns, carried out the sequence of dyeing, set up the looms and wove the cloth.

After the annexation of Central Asia by the Soviet Union and the overthrow of the traditional rulers, family-based craft workshops that catered to the aristocracy were dismantled. Traditional methods were discouraged as being uneconomical and Russian factory products began to swamp the market. Silk fabrics came into more general use, and the demand for ikats was largely met by machine-printed faux-ikat. Production of true ikats survives however in the Ferghana valley, often using synthetics and garish dyes. Since women were integrated into an open society during Soviet rule, they are now also more integrally involved in the ikat production process.

Ikat textiles were used to make spectacular wall hangings and dividing curtains for domestic interiors, as well as clothing for men, women and children. The quality of the ikat and its pattern were formerly indicators of social status and professional rank; until the 1800s it was a punishable offence for a man to wear a robe to which he was not entitled.

Although wearing silk ikat was once restricted to the titled and wealthy, with the advent of Soviet rule in Central Asia, ikat fabrics became accessible to most women who made them into chapans (coats), kurtas (a long tunic dress) and the voluminous drawstring trousers over which the kurta is worn. Less elaborate and expensive types of ikat were often used in the linings of paranjas, especially the deep facings that showed when a woman walked.

Today, factory-produced ikats like this silk atlas length are still used throughout Central Asia for a range of purposes, including women's dress modelled along traditional lines for wear in more rural environments and high fashion garments.

Purchased by Christina Sumner in an undercover market in Dushambe, Tajikistan, during an overseas-on-duty visit to Central Asia in October 1999; subsequently sponsored for the Museum collection by the Oriental Rug Society of New South Wales.

Fabric length, satin weave ikat (atlas), synthetic, maker unknown, Ferghana Valley, Uzbekistan, 1995-1999

A length of synthetic satin-weave fabric, patterned by the ikat technique in bright shades of aubergine, pink, yellow, blue and green with white and black. The design consists of five lengthways pattern stripes, the outer, narrower stripes being half the central stripe, with narrow stripes in between. The ikat design repeats widthways around a central axis as well as lengthways.

Made: Uzbekistan; 1995 - 1999

2003/176/6

1995 - 1999

6235 mm

505 mm