Half of a "Sampot" (Skirt Cloth)

Ikat-dyed silks from Southeast Asia are weft ikats. Both the technique and the use of silk originated in India and spread to those parts of Southeast Asia that were accessible to international trade. There, it gradually replaced the earlier technique of warp ikat using cotton. The antiquity of this technique in Cambodia is indicated by weft-ikat designs that are preserved on sculptures of the Ankor period (9th-13th centuries). The diagonal lattice pattern in the central field of this textile was common throughout Southeast Asia. Because the textile was inteded to be a skirt cloth, there is little figural representation in its design.