Unknown artist, Indonesian; Javanese; Indo-European

In this unfinished example, the complex layering of color—a signature of the craft of batik—is yet to be fully realized. Batik artists must possess the foresight to imagine the blending of many layers of pattern and color. Each length of fabric is the product of numerous skilled hands: the designer creates the pattern on tracing paper, then craftsmen prewash, size, stretch the fabric, and apply wax with stamps (a technique known as capping). After craftswomen draw wax-resist designs by hand (known as canting), the dyer submerges the textile in a succession of color baths.