Cranes, Chinese symbol of immortality, are abundant on this sarong. While pairs of cranes feed among oversized plants and water lilies, other cranes fly overhead. The style of drawing and the colors of the motifs bear a resemblance to the gold-thread couched embroidery that is frequently found on Chinese ceremonial garments.
22 Sarong dlorong buketan, signed “Nja Lie Boen In Koedoes”, made by Njonja Lie Boen In, Kudus, 1920s.
Lie Boen In was born in Pekalongan, but in later years moved to Kudus. However, the iconography of her batik indicates the strong influence of Pekalongan textiles. Her batik production was rather limited and her clients were mainly members of her extended family. The badan on this sarong features three large floral bouquets composed of colorful poppies and blue and white forget-me-nots, while the diagonal bands (dlorong) on the kepala have been filled with birds and lily stems. The most striking feature of the sarong is its background, which is covered with extremely fine, densely worked diagonal lines, known as the galaran pattern.
Pages 50–63 Studio portraits of Chinese Peranakan women (except page 61) wearing fine north coast batik sarongs with lacy kebaya blouses.
23 Kain, Chinese workshop, north coast (Semarang or Lasem), second half 19th century. Chinese wedding procession (Arak-arakan Pengantin Cina).
Towards the end of the 19th century, batik was often made in the Pesisir area to commemorate special events. In the case of Chinese weddings, the fabrics were used as wedding gifts, presented by the family of the groom to the bride. At the top and bottom of this cloth, a joyful procession accompanies the young couple as the bride is taken from her family house to the house of the groom. Men are shown holding flags, banners and lanterns, and there are scores of musicians. The actual wedding ceremony is presented in the center of the cloth, inside a series of pavilions. From left to right, in their respective family houses, the bride and groom undergo a series of rituals and are dressed in elaborate wedding costumes. The next pavilion features the newlyweds, sitting opposite each other at a table, marking their union by eating a ritual dish. In the following scene, they pray at the ancestral pavilion. In the last building, probably the final stage of the wedding, the newlyweds serve tea to the family elders. The people standing behind the bride and groom are the ritual minders whose duty it is to make sure that all elements of this important ceremony are conducted in the correct way.
24 Sarong, Pekalongan, late 19th–early 20th century.
Batik sarongs made by Indo-European workshops for the colonial market in Java included depictions of famous fairytales, such as this one showing the story of Cinderella. The bottom half of the badan features, from right to left, the two ugly sisters, the stepmother and Cinderella. In the upper half is a clock, the prince holding Cinderella’s shoe and the heroine, running away with one foot bare. The kepala presents the happy ending, where the prince and Cinderella are united under an oversized floral arrangement. The background has been densely covered with intricate filler motifs (tanahan). The sarong would probably have been made for a young Indo-European woman.
25 Kain, probably made in an Arab workshop in Pekalongan, early 20th century.
The minarets that frame the two arch-like structures, probably mosques, as well as the fact that the faces of all human beings have been disguised with bird-like features, suggest that this cloth was made in one of the Arab workshops in the Pesisir area. In the late 1920s, there were 130 batik workshops on Java run by members of the Arab Peranakan community. Different modes of transport, from hand-drawn to motor-propelled, are also depicted.
26 Sarong, probably made in an Arab workshop in Pekalongan, early 20th century.
The faces of all the living beings—humans, birds, dogs and even a horse—depicted in this rural scene have been disguised in some way. Some have been turned into floral-like forms. This feature, as well as the large bouquet of flowers, suggests that the cloth was produced in Pekalongan, in one of the many batik workshops run by Indonesian Arabs.
27 Sarong, made in the Masina family workshop, Trusmi, near Cirebon, late 19th century.
Whereas in Central Java a sarong is considered to be an everyday garment for commoners, in West Java it is also worn by the nobility. The motifs on this sarong indicate that it was made for a member of the Kesepuhan or Kanoman Sultanates of Cirebon. The badan features the penganten design, the wings of the mythical bird Garuda, known as sawat in Central Java, which was traditionally reserved for use by the Javanese nobility. Other important symbols are the tree of life, snakes (probably the serpent Naga) and mountains (Mount Meru, the abode of Hindu gods). The main motifs are connected by a network of small sprouting plants and tendrils, in Central Java known as semen (“to grow”, “to sprout”), which support life forces and assure prosperity. The kepala features an intricate patchwork-like tumpal design composed of different sized triangles (see also pages 80–1, 84–5). The batik decoration is of the latar putih (white background) type, whereby a layer of wax was applied to the background prior to the dyeing process, leaving only the outlines of the motifs uncovered. Technically, it is a very complex and time-consuming way of wax drawing that requires high manual dexterity and experience.
28 Sarong, Pesisir area, early 20th century.
The rooster, the most popular bird of Java, is the hero of this batik, which may have been made for a devotee of cock-fighting. The badan is filled with thousands of tiny dots (cocohan) (see also pages 78–9). This effect has been achieved by pricking the layer of wax with a set of fine needles, and is typical of batik made in Lasem, Indramayu and, occasionally, Cirebon.
