BATIK
A typical Hokokai batik made between 1942 and 1945.
A western Javanese kain panjang, primitively and boldly rendered.
A late nineteenth century batik with the dragon or naga motif.
"Three countries" or tiga negeri sarong with a patchwork body.
A 1916 kain panjang common to the northern towns of Kudus and Juana.
BATIK
FABLED CLOTH OF JAVA
Inger McCabe Elliott
PHOTOGRAPHS
Brian Brake
CONTRIBUTIONS
Paramita Abdurachman
Susan Blum
Iwan Tirta
DESIGN
Kiyoshi Kanai
Published by Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd.
Copyright © 1984, 2004 Inger McCabe Elliott
First published by Clarkson N. Potter, Inc., New York, 1984
Reissued by Viking, UK, 1985
First Periplus edition, 2004
All rights reserved
ISBN: 978-1-4629-0869-1 (ebook)
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Acknowledgements The author gratefully acknowledges the following for permission to use photographs: Paramita Abdurachman; Jane Hendromartono; Photographic Archives of the Royal Tropical Institute; Rare Books and Manuscript Division, New York Public Library; the Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations; Rob Nieuwenhuys; Time Inc.; and the Trustees of the British Museum for allowing me to reproduce the batik photos of Raffles. The generous support of Mobil Corporation is also deeply appreciated.
Note: The number at the end of each caption refers to the Concordance, pp. 205-229.
Endpaper: Map of Java, drawn nearly three hundred years ago. To make the north coast batik journey more easily understood, towns such as Yogyakarta and Lasem have been added.
For Oz
When you are old and gray and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book.
—W. B. Yeats, When You Are Old
Batik from the Collections of:
Asmara Arifin, Jakarta
Joop Avé, Jakarta
China Seas Inc., New York
Brian Brake and Lau Wai Man, Auckland
Wieneke de Groot, Jakarta
Winnifred de Groot, Leiden
Deutsches Textilmuseum, Krefeld-Linn
H. Sa'adiah Djody, Jakarta
Inger McCabe Elliott, New York
Sergio Feldbauer, Milan
Jacques Gadbois
Henry Ginsburg and Lisbet Holmes, London
K-R.T. Hardjonagoro, Surakarta
Jane Hendromartono, Pekalongan
Robert J. Holmgren and Anita Spertus, New York
Jonathan Hope, London
Mary Kahlenberg and Dr. Anne Summerfield, Los Angeles
Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen, Amsterdam
Museum of Mankind, London
Museum Nasional, Jakarta
Oey Soe Tjoen, Kedungwuni
Ardiyanto Pranata, Yogyakarta
Soelaeman Pringgodigdo, Jakarta
Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Leiden
Hans W- Siegel, Ronco
Smend Gallery, Cologne
State Museum of Yogyakarta Sonobudoyo, Yogyakarta
Iwan Tirta, Jakarta
CONTENTS
I. TALES OF A TRADE ROUTE ISLAND
THE LURE OF JAVA
Three Religions
The Urban Chinese
Explorers from the West
Cotton for Sale—and to Wear
Raffles the Remarkable
Birth of an Industry
The Batik Process