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Indo-European Javanese Indo-Chinese, Java

Sarong fragment, 1910

Description

Maker

  • Unknown

Culture

Indo-European

Title

Sarong fragment

Year

1910

Medium

Cotton plain-weave batik (wax-resist print)

Materials/Techniques

Materials

  • cotton

Techniques

  • plain weave,
  • batik

Place

Java

Type

  • Fashion,
  • Costume

Credit

Bequest of Miss Lucy T. Aldrich

Object Number

55.482

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Indische Style

March 20 - July 5, 2015

This batik was very likely produced by P. D. Tio, who created extremely fine examples in a Chinese workshop in the early 20th century. The diagonal bands along this sarong’s background are Tio’s hallmark and a traditional Javanese motif known as galaran. The lotus blossoms and abstracted fowl work with the wavy lines of the galaran to create a cool, aquatic effect. The layout of the motifs and the border are representative of the Nieuwe Kunst, or Dutch Art Nouveau style.

Zone of Attraction

June 26 - December 6, 2009

Batik has earned its place as Indonesia's national cloth. Initially the sole domain of women in a private domestic setting, batik design and production changed rapidly in the 19th century, as it transformed into a commercially viable product with the advent of European demand and efficient production methods such as stamping versus hand drawing. Commercial batik dyeing developed first in the large port cities of Jakarta, Semarang, and Surabaya. In 1850 Pekalongan became an important batik center, where Peranakan, Indo-Arabian, and within a decade Indo-European women all established active batik businesses. Each of these Javanese cities' textiles displays distinctive styles and colors that have evolved over the 19th and 20th century in response to global influence. The Indo-European sarong fragment here, for example, illustrates the taste for western, Art Nouveau subjects.

Tradition and Innovation

June 15 - October 7, 2001

This sarong's design of water lilies, swans, cattails, and butterflies is in the Indonesian-European tradition. The layout, with the whiplash curves of the lily stems, also appears to have been influenced by the European art-nouveau style. The sarong could be wrapped to show off either the light or the dark area, depending on the mood of the wearer and the occasion for which it was worn.

The same design is used in both the kepala and the badan; the only difference between the two areas is in the use of color. Batiks like this were cheaper to produce, as the pattern drawer was paid for only one design.

Rockefeller Asian Art Gallery

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in the public domain (CC0 1.0). This object is Sarong fragment with the accession number of 55.482. To request a higher resolution file, please submit an online request.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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