Beautiful hand drawn batik

Batik rice harvest shoulder cloth

A hand drawn and natural vegetable dyed batik made to be worn over a woman's shoulder. The triangular designs and borders on each end have been particularly beautifully well batiked.

The central designs of big sheaves of rice stalks and grains means it would be specially relevant for a harvest ceremony or one such as an engagement or marriage (symbolising fertility!)

Colours: plant indigo (dark blue) soga (varius barks and roots) caramel brown and white.

Size: 50 cms x 1.85 m

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

Baby Carrying Cloth

In Java babies are always carried in a special long length baby carrier cloth. Usually these cloths have designs of auspicious and protective Chinese symbols batiked onto them.

This baby carrier has two wonderful dragons, lion dogs and double happiness symbols. It has an imitation batiked fringe at each end. The main body has been hand drawn but probably by the mother and obviously not in a professional workshop)

Colours: multicolours on a bright red background

Size: 88 cms x 2.5 metres

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

Indigo batiked long slendang

A wonderful piece of hand drawn batik tulis made by the women of the Bima Sakti batik co-operative in Giriloyo village. The women of this village have been making batik for the courts of Jogyakarta in Central Java for many generations.

Their work is all done by hand and uses natural dyes only.

Colours: natural plant indigo and white

Size: 52 cms x 2.10 metres

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

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

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