Celebrating Asian Art

Recent Acquisitions at Thomas Murray

Thomas Murray is featuring a multiprong online and in person exhibition for Asia Week New York 2023 that includes five exceptionally important textiles: Three Indian Trade Cloths of great rarity for the Indonesian Market and two iconic weavings from Lampung, Sumatra – a Double Red Ship Palepai and an early Pasisir Wedding Tampan.

Introducing as well in wood are a fine Islamic calligraphic window with a ‘Seal of the Prophet’ inscription; two shamanic works from the indigenous Tao (Yami) People of Orchid Island, off the coast of Taiwan featuring compelling line drawing depictions of their primordial ancestor, Magamaog.

We are pleased to present antipodal jewelry offerings from Indonesia: a pair of gold earspools with diamond chips worn by royal Minangkabau women of West Sumatra and two precious and seldom seen gold ornaments from the remote easterly spice islands of Leti and Tanimbar.

A private collection of bronze ‘found object’ charms, Thogchas, rounds out our exhibition. They were picked up from the soil of the Tibetan plateau by nomadic herders, who considered them magical ‘fall from sky’ talismans, with many dating 1000 years old or more. Formed over a 40 year period by an artist, this group is being offered as a whole.

The Art of Shell Beads

Online exhibition

In the recent publication, Textiles of Indonesia, Valerie Hector informs us that shells have been used in Southeast Asia as both ornament and currency for millennia. Oliva shell beads were found in an archaeology site of Timor dating to circa 35,000 years ago and Nassarius shell beads were found in the same area dating to 4500 BCE.

Despite the emergence of the glass trade bead industry some two thousand years ago, hand fashioned shell disks continued to serve as a primary way of storing value and signaling prestige up through the 20th century for many ethnic groups of Southeast Asia and Oceania. This was due to the extraordinary labor intensiveness required by shell bead creation, and the principle that the further from the sea, the greater the value for all artifacts made from shell.

Shell Necklace, Angami, Naga People, India, shells, 19th century or earlier30.5 in. (77 cm)

This small exhibition features shell artwork from some of the most legendary headhunting peoples of Asia, including the greatest shell-decorated garment in the world from the Atayal of Taiwan; a blouse decorated with mother of pearl shell beads from the B'laan of Mindanao, Philippines; an early warrior's cape from the Naga with appliqued cowrie shells, making a human figure amid circles; and an extraordinary Naga necklace fashioned from giant clam, both from the northeastern highlands of India.

It is a pleasure to share this deeply meaningful group with you!

To view the online exhibition, click here.

Textiles of Indonesia: The Thomas Murray Collection

Drawn from one of the world's leading textile collections, this magnificently presented array of traditional weavings from the Indonesian archipelago provides a unique window into the region's cultures, rites, and history.

Gathered over the course of four decades, the Thomas Murray collection of Indonesian textiles is one of the most important privately owned collections of its type in the world. The objects comprise ritual clothing and ceremonial cloths that tell us much about the traditions of pre-Islamic Indonesian cultures, as well as about the influences of regional trade with China, India, the Arab world, and Europe. As with the earlier volume, Textiles of Japan (Prestel, 2018), the book focuses on some of the finest cloths to come out of the archipelago, presenting each object with impeccable photographs, colors, patterns, and intricate details. Geographically arranged, this volume pays particular attention to textiles from the Batak and the Lampung region of Sumatra, the Dayak of Borneo, and the Toraja of Sulawesi, as well as rare textiles from Sumba, Timor and other islands. Readers will learn about the intricate and highly developed traditions of dyeing, weaving, and beading techniques that have been practiced for centuries, resulting in a breathtaking collection of motifs, patterns, dyes, and adornments. Original texts by leading international experts draw on the latest research to offer historical context, unspool the mysteries behind ancient iconography, and provide new insights into dating and provenance.

Full List of Contributors: Lorraine Aragon, Joanna Barrkman, Chris Buckley, Kristal Hale, Valerie Hector, Janet Alison Hoskins, Itie van Hout, Eric Kjellgren, Fiona Kerlogue, Brigitte Khan Majlis, Robyn Maxwell, Thomas Murray, and Sandra Sardjono.

For more information, click here

Thomas Murray is a California-based independent researcher, collector, lecturer, author and private dealer of Asian, tribal and textile art with an emphasis on antique Indonesian sculpture and textiles and Indian printed trade cloths from the 13th to 18th centuries, as well as animistic art from other varied cultures. A contributing editor to HALI Magazine for more than thirty years, he serves as its in-house consultant on ethnographic textiles and has more than fifty publications to his name, including numerous articles on tribal art and textiles, as well as eight books and catalogues: Indonesian Tribal Art (2001), Animistic Art of Island Asia (2008), Masks of Fabled Lands (2009), Pairs, Couples and Maternity: The Art of Two (2014), C-14 Dating of Dayak Art (2015), Textiles of Japan (2018), and Rarities–From the Himalayas to Hawaii (2019), as well as the new Textiles of Indonesia (2021). He is past president of the Antique Tribal Art Dealers Association and served a three year term as a member of US President Barack Obama’s Cultural Property Advisory Committee at the Department of State in Washington, DC. Thomas Murray serves currently as the president of SF Tribal, an organization of San Francisco Bay Area art dealers.