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Unknown Maker, Javanese

Long cloth (kain panjang)

Maker

Unknown Maker, Javanese

Culture

Javanese

Title

Long cloth (kain panjang)

Year

1800s

Medium

  • cotton,
  • natural soga dye; batik

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

  • cotton,
  • natural soga dye; batik

Materials

cotton

Geography

Place Made: Java, Yogykarta

Dimensions

Length: 270.5 cm (106 1/2 inches)

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Anonymous gift

Object Number

56.017

Type

  • Costume

Exhibition History

Zone of Attraction
Indonesian Textiles from the Permanent Collection
Jun 26, 2009 – Dec 06, 2009

Label copy

Symbols such as the broken or double sword (parang rusak) were once reserved for members of the Central Javanese nobility of the Mataram Court (1582-1755). The higher the rank of the individual the larger the motif could be. On the north coast of Java, where court culture had less influence, people of all levels of society wore the parang, thus shifting its cultural weight. Eventually, the potent symbol of power evolved into a fashionable statement, as here in the selendang in which the parang motif functions as a decorative element, alternating diagonals of dark and light, and perhaps a stylized arabesque, which was a symbol of Islam.

Indonesian Textiles
Mar 07, 1997 – May 18, 1997

Image use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use.

Public Domain This object is in the Public Domain and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

Unknown Maker, Javanese
Long cloth (kain panjang), 1800s
Cotton, natural soga dye; batik
Length: 270.5 cm (106 1/2 inches)
Anonymous gift 56.017

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