Beautiful hand drawn batik

Cap batik slendang scarf

A lovely vegetable (indigo and soga) dyed cap stamped batik slendang scarf. These are usually worn over the shoulder to match a sarong or "kain panjang" sarong in the same design.

The design is suitable for celebrating or hoping for a birth as it features chickens,  chicks in eggs and little rice spirit houses - all propitious fertility symbols.

Beautiful soft vintage look and feel.

Size: 33 cms. x 1.74 m

Small slendang scarf

A lovely vegetable (indigo and soga) dyed cap stamped batik slendang scarf. These are usually worn over the shoulder to match a sarong or "kain panjang" sarong in the same design.

The design is suitable for a wedding as it features butterflies, rice spirit houses and eagle wings - all propitious symbols for a happy and prosperous future life.

Beautiful soft vintage look and feel.

Size: 32 cms. x 1.48 m

Batik headcloth square (iket)

A beautiful hand stamped (cap batik) square  with a central lozenge and a design of birds, and pavillions. Cloths like these are made to be made into a kind of turban for men especially for the guards who work in the Sulatn's Palace. However it would make a lovely wall hanging or tablecloth.

Colours: indigo blue, terracotta brown and cream.

Size: 102 cms square

Sumatran Folk Batik

A deep red thick cotton cloth with hand drawn motifs and "Arabic writing" imitations. Probably made by a village woman for herself or her husband to wear to the mosque.

Burgundy red and pale sand colours.

Size: 88 x 2.3 m

Madura Village Batik

A wonderful piece of folk art - a hand drawn batik from the island of Madura (just off the coast of Java)  Batik from this island often features the sea, seaweeds and creatures. All vegetable dyes of mengkudu (morinda citrifolia) deep red and indigo blue.

Design of primitive birds, turtles and butterflies on an all over wavy lines background with  triangle design at both ends.. 

Used but generally in a good condition.

Size: 1.02 x 2.3 m

Madura Folk Art

A vibrant village piece from the island of Madura, an island just off the coast of Java with its own batik traditions. The women there make batik sarongs just for themselves, rarely commercially.

The dyes used are natural plant dyes - indigo blue and mengkudu (the root of the morinda tree)

Birds, butterflies and flowers. This cloth has a rectangular contrasting panel at each end.

Size: 1.03 x 2.68 m

Megamendung Storm clouds

A fabulous hand drawn batik from the northern coastal town of Cirebon in Java.

The design is called "megamendung" which means "storm clouds". This area of Java has many batik making families of Chinese origin and the batik cloths reflect the favourite colours and designs of China. This design can be seen in many traditional Chinese ceramics and embroideries.

Colours: Bright red, white and pale to very deep blues.

Age and condition: new  Size approx: 1.05 x 2.35m 

For more information about megamendung have a look at my blog  "Storm Clouds From Cirebon"

Indigo Bali batik

A lovely blue and white slendang (scarf) dyed with natural indigo, from a batik workshop on the island of Bali.

White, pale blue and dark blue. All hand drawn work. 

A mix of floral borders with a central diamond of geometric designs.

Size: 50 cms x 1.88 m

Hand drawn batik with diamonds

A lovely vintage cloth from Central Java. All hand drawn with large lozenge shaped diamonds of four well known batik designs including "truntum" stars, butterflies and rice spririt houses.

This cloth is between 50 and 75 years old. Very good condition. Natural dyes of indigo blue and soga brown.

Size: 1.02 x 2.25m

Sumatran Batik

A batik shawl called a "Juffri" made in Cirebon, Java for the Sumatran market. This cloth is new and bought by us from the workshop where it was made at Trusmi, just outside Cirebon.

Lovely deep red, black and pale browns

Size: 1m x 2.25m

Lasem Blue and White Batik

A very delicate and extremely pretty blue and white kain panjang (long cloth) from Lasem on the north coast of Java. Cloths like this are difficult to make as the whole of the background has to be very carefully blocked out with a strong beeswax to prevent the indigo blue dye seeping into it as its dyed. Some slight yellowish spots are still visible.

A lovely birds and flowers design with a floral blue border on all four sides.

Size: 1.04 x 2.3m

Rice stalks Indigo Tuban Batik

A wonderful hand drawn batik "slendang" or shoulder cloth from the village of Kerek in northern Java - one of the few places left where batik is still made on handwoven cotton. The cotton and the indigo dye plants are grown around the village and the wax is made from local bees.

A few of the older village women still spin, weave, dye and batik the cotton to produce amazing pieces of folk textile art like this. A piece like this is made to wear or carry goods. Strong hardwearing cotton with a design of cotton flowers with decorative borders.

Size: 2 metres x 45 cms (including fringe)

For another beautiful indigo batik from Kerek, have a look here.

Indramayu Batik

Indramayu is a fishing port near Cirebon on the north coast of Java and once had its own distinctive style of batik usually with sea motifs. Now there are just one or two batik studios remaining making batik using the traditional indigo blue and mengkudu purpley red dyes. The distinguishing feature of Indramayu batik is the dotted background which is featured on the borders of this cloth

This lovely piece has an intensively worked background of dots and geringsing (fish scales)  with wavering foliage and sea weeds. It has a wonderful tumpal (triangular) pattern at each end of the cloth.

New condition. Size: 1.04 x 2.40 m

Eagles and leaves vintage batik

This lovely old and faded batik was probably made in the 1950s or '60s (60 or 70 years ago) before chemical dyes had been fully adopted in Central Java. It has been dyed using plant indigo and the bark brown dyes called "soga". Very deep blue and pale cream and cafe au lait colour.

The design shows flowers and leaves interspersed with traditional "sawat" eagle wings and tail designs.

There is a repaired rip about two/thirds of the way along which is reflected in the price.

Size:106 cms x 2.55m

Kemben (breast cloth)

A hand drawn batik cloth made in Jogyakarta in Central Java. Kemben are sometimes called breast cloths and have a distinctive central plain coloured lozenge. They are worn by dancers and women of the Sultan's court as garments which cover the top half of the body.

Colours: black, deep indigo blue, mid brown, ivory

Age: 60 years +

Size: 51 cms x 250 cms

Condition: very good, one small tear in one corner

Carnations Lasem Batik

I bought this batik cloth in Lasem about 40 years ago when we were collecting samples of batik from all over Java for a museum collection. Lasem is a small town on the north coast of Java which has long been famed for its batik, although there is not so much left of it now.

Lasem was particularly known for the bright "mengkudu" red which its dyers could achieve. So much so that batik manufacturers from other parts of Java sent their cloths to be dyed there. (in the days before synthetic dyes reached Java in the 1920s) The design of carnations and fans is aimed at the Peranakan Chinese community who live in Lasem and other coastal Javanese towns, as well as Singapore and Penang and Malacca in Malaysia

The red and blue on a white background is known as "bang-biru" and would be worn by married women. When batiking a cloth like this, great care must be taken, using very thick beeswax, to protect the white background from the blue and red dyes.

New condition. Size 1.02 x 2.45 m

Giriloyo Sample Cloth

This cloth was batiked in the village of Giriloyo by the women of the Bima Sakti Women's Batik Co-operative. Bu Hartinah and her neighbours come from a line of women with a long tradition of making batik cloths for the Sultan of Jogyakarta and the royal court. Their village out in the rice fields beyond the city, lies just beneath the sacred mountain of Imogiri where the Sultans of Central Java have their tombs.

The cloth is a "sempel tretes" sampler cloth and shows 24 different and named designs. The batik has all been hand drawn and the designs are related to each other.

New. Size: 1.04 x 2.30 m

Indigo Sample cloth

A wonderful example of a design sampler featuring 24 named designs.

This new cloth has been completely hand waxed and dyed by the women of the Bima Sakti women's batik co-operative in Giriloyo village. The women of this village have a long tradition of making batik for the Sultan of Jogyakarta.

Size 1.02 x 2.40 cms with 24 designs of 30 x 33 cms.

Taman Arum Cirebon Batik

This hand drawn batik was bought by us about 40 years ago from the village of Trusmi where the batik of the Royal Court city of Cirebon is made. The design is called "Taman Arum" or Fragrant Garden and it depicts the Sultan's Palace gardens with rocks, foliage, royal parasols, pavillions, lions and mythical winged beasts.

The Chinese design influences in the "megamendung" pattern of the rocks can be clearly seen. Golden brown, blue and black on an ivory background

New condition. Size: 1.02 x 2.56 m

Tiga Negeri Batik

A stunning hand drawn batik "kain panjang" (or long cloth) which is at least 100 years old. "Tiga negeri" means "three states" and refers to the fact that the cloth was sent to three different parts of Java - Solo, Jogyakarta and Lasem where the natural dyes were applied. (indigo blue, soga brown and morinda red).

Very finely executed designs of flowers, birds and butterflies. The designs and colours were much loved by the Peranakan Chinese community living in Java and Malaysia. This is a real piece of textile history on beautiful smooth top quality primissima cotton. There is a signature in one corner which reads TJOA SIANG GWAN. SOLO

The batik is in very good condition with some small darns at two of the corners and a small hole on one end edge.

Size: 1.05 x 2.52 m