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Linda knows this but it may be news to others. I have recently analysed over 50 of these Burmese inscription bands collected by Ralph Isaacs and now donated to the Green Foundation for Non-Western Art, Brighton, UK. He sometimes found them being used to tie up parcels, not being considered of any worth locally in Burma! They are amazing artefacts; many have other motifs apart from the long inscriptions, including parrots (used at end of each verse), fish, lions, elephants, gongs, pointing hands; some have dates and even the name of weaver... and all in double-faced weave, usually less than an inch wide and needing up to 40 tablets. Many illustrations in Otfried Staudigel's new book are taken from these bands; and I know he wants to visit UK and examine the collection. The commonest are just red and white.. but the more complex have much warp striping. All use cotton. They were given by families to the temple as a form of devotion. Many start with a woven tubular loop and end with a tapering before the final braided or tubular tie and so have a structural similarity with the Jerusalem garters. They have many other interesting features and technical variations; and my reports ran to at least one page for each band... and took over a month to complete. Ralph Isaacs hopes to have an exhibition with a catalogue, I believe. But he is also busy on his immense collection of lacquer ware, also acquired when he was working in Burma, and which was recently seen at the British Museum. Peter Collingwood http://www.petercollingwood.co.uk Send private reply to peter collingwood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ----------------------------------------------------------- To stop receiving tabletweaving (not tabletweaving-digest), send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: unsubscribe tabletweaving. To stop receiving tabletweaving-digest, see the end of a digest.
