Part of my research project under the auspices of the Victoria and Albert grant was to identify patterns uniquely Cambodian. As is so often true of new, more in-depth research, some of my findings were surprising. And one was a shocker. Read on…
I started with flowers native to what was the Khmer empire (present-day Cambodia and parts of what are now Thailand and Vietnam), but not native to India. The most popular is the Rumduol. It was declared Cambodia’s national flower by H.R.H. Norodom Sihamoni shortly after his coronation. Below you see it in chorabab brocade, but it is also a Cambodian ikat pattern. It is also made in present-day Thailand.
The Chan tree is native to what used to be the Khmer empire and parts of southern and central China, but is not native to India. Although the pattern is called, “Chan Flower” in Cambodia, I knew from my previous research that it is not the flower of the tree. Or the fruit. It is believed by Cambodian weavers to be the calyx of the fruit - the four leaves on the top . Below you see the flower (tiny), the ripe fruit with the calyx stripped off, and the unripe fruit with the calyx still on. Next to that, you see a persimmon with the calyx still on.
But Chan is not just a textile pattern. It’s also seen in Angkorian jewelry and belts, and was used to decorate temple walls and pillars.
Below left is the pattern in Cambodian chorabab brocade (top row). You can see that it looks much more like the calyx of the persimmon than it does the calyx of the Chan. The persimmon is native to Northeast India, northern Indochina and China.
My research in India revealed that this is an Indian paṭola pattern. It was considered to be so important that it was actually carved in stone, at the Rani ki Vav step well in Patan, Gujarat (11th century C.E.). With other important paṭola patterns. But I first found it on a statue of Surya dating to the 10th century, on his belt. Both sculptures predate Angkor Wat, built in the 12th century. The pattern is still very popular in India today - check the embroidered handbag, spotted in a restaurant in Agra.
But the pattern must predate Indian paṭola, because we see it on the walls and pillars of the 9th-century Bakong - an Angkorian step pyramid. The Bakong manifests heavy influence from Java, but I confirmed that Chan is not a Javanese pattern. It may have come from India to what is now Cambodia and Thailand during the Chenla era, before the Angkorian era. This would be an excellent research project for another scholar.
It took me five years to identify and trace this pattern (you’ll find much more information in What the Queens Wore - the Silk of Angkor). It was this discovery that was the shocker - because we see the Chan pattern everywhere at Angkor Wat. It is a source of national pride. The news that this is an Indian pattern will not be well received in Cambodia.
I investigated patterns of inland water birds found in Cambodian ikat. Takeo Province, where most ikat is made today, is full of rice paddies - the perfect habitat for these birds. And the Bassac River flows along its eastern border. I identified the species. The same species live in Gujarat, and I ultimately decided that these patterns are more likely to be Indian than Cambodian.
But I did identify 23 patterns in chorabab brocade that appear to be uniquely Cambodian; they’re illustrated in the appendix of What the Queens Wore - the Silk of Angkor. One of them is the green frog you saw in the section entitled, “The Origin of Cambodian Brocade”. Another is the pattern of horizontal parallel bars worn by Khmer brides called, “Naa”. I will continue my research in 2026.
But some patterns are unmistakably Khmer (Cambodia’s ethnic majority, and the ethnic group that produces chorabab). Like this Khmer Theravada Buddhist temple scene (the front facade of the temple with landscape below it), and these Angkor Wat towers (rendered upside down).
