Search This Blog

Followers

Contact Form

Name

Email *

Message *

Translate

Friday, November 26, 2021

BANYUMAS

 

BANYUMAS



People of the Banyumas regency are considered descendants from the royal families of Yogyakarta and also the Kingdom of Pajajaran in West Java.  Banyumas was considered the outermost township of the Mataram Kingdom.  Their culture was identical to that of the Principalities.  Batik is initially thought to have been an aristocratic occupation in Banyumas to fill personal requirements for this cloth.  Compared to the batiks from other coastal areas/styles, batik Banyumas blended Principality/classical designs with the coastal style including European motifs and colours.  It must be remembered that Banyumas located in western Central Java, is not a coastal town.  Batik Banyumas is commonly known as banyumasan.  It is characterised by its reddish yellow sogan base colour, with golden ivory yellows and very dark blackish blue.  The sogan base colour is similar to the colour produced earlier by Jonas, a batik maker of Dutch parentage in Solo.  The ivory yellow is a tint lighter than that used in Solo.

Harmen C. Veldhuisen wrote about a very similar kain panjang in the Rudolf G. Smend Collection, to the cloth being discussed below, (the only difference between the two cloths appears to be their border variation): The first impression is that of a batik from the Principalities.  The imitation lace border along the right and lower edge indicates however, that this batik was made in an Indo-European batik workshop or copied an Indo-Chinese batik maker.  A second look confirms this opinion.  The bird garuda is drawn in a non-Javanese way. *

[BATIK - Javanese and Sumatran Batiks from Courts and Palaces, Rudolf G. Smend Collection.  Insider Information, Harmen C. Veldhuisen, page 93, 19.  The cloth from the Rudolf G. Smend Collection, also a kain panjang, is illustrated across pages 32 & 33 of this publication].  

          


Batik cloth with a combination of motifs: mirong (a pair of wings); sawat gurdo (a pair of wings with extended fan-like tail feathers); surrounded by animals on a semen background
Banyumas, ca. 1920
Matheros Skirt cloth kain panjang (detail)
Cotton, natural dyes; batik tulis
105.0 X 264.0 cm
Photo: Mick Richards
Greg Roberts & Ian Reed Collection



The motifs on this cloth (above and below), belong to the group of patterns/motifs/designs known as the  Non-Geometric Free-Form designs.  The most common type of non-geometric motifs, known as semen (from semi, buds or sprouting leaves), covers a huge variety of different patterns which the waxer has great freedom to interpret, provided certain traditional rules are observed.  The common element is the use of leaf-like tendrils for the background.  

There are three main types of semen patterns:

1. Semen or 'sprouting life' pattern consisting only of leaves or buds, is an old Central Javanese court pattern;
 
2.  As can be seen on this Banyumas kain panjang, motifs depicting animals on a semen background including meru, a batik ornament shaped like a mountain always found in semen designs; and
 
 3.  As with this Banyumas kain panjang, motifs in which animals and leaves are combined with lar (wings of the mythical Garuda). 


In addition, there are three variations on the lar motif: 


(a) lar (a single wing of the Garuda bird);
 
 (b) the mirong (a pair of wings), and, 

(c) the sawat gurdo (a pair of wings with extended fan-like tail feathers).
 

 Traditionally the sawat is one of the ornaments reserved for the highest nobility.  Rouffaer believes it was originally a kind of crest or symbolic talisman of the 17th century Central Javanese Kingdom of Mataram under the great Sultan Agung.



(detail including right-edge border)

The overall style of this Banyumas kain panjang is known as materos *, with its red, blue, and black colours on an ivory background, inspired by Dutch taste.  The various components of the pattern are partially framed in an L-shaped border made up of repeated bunches of three small white blossoms on a red wave-shaped ground.  It is the lines, that make up the border, that have been waxed and the background dyed: conversely, the motifs on the central field are waxed in the negative, which requires a certain skill when drawing without the aid of a paper pattern.   The red and white wavelike materos border, up the right edge and along the long lower edge, is a signature element of batiks from Banyumas.

 
* Note: The batiks of a niece of Mrs. Catharina Carolina van Oosterom (nee Philips) 1816 - 1900, Mrs. Matheron (nee Willemse), were known as batik matheron or matheros.  The batiks of the other niece of Mrs. Van Oosterom, Miss Willemse, were known under the name batik Wileman.  Many of Miss. Willemse's patterns were derived from European magazines.  These two nieces inherited the batik workshop of their childless aunt, Mrs. van Oosterom.

Harmen C Veldhuisen writes*: Around 1910, via the batik trade in Bandung, batik Banyumas became very popular in Java.  In Banyumas, there were numerous small Javanese batik workshops, imitating the style of van Oosterom-Willemse, co-locating next to the large Intro-Europen batik workshops.  Traders from Bandung placed orders with these Javanese batik workshops, but they also let the van Oosterom-Willemse style be imitated in nearby Ciamis and Tasikmalaya.  Along with Garut these three towns were the batik centres in the Preanger.  Batik workshops from these three centres brought waxers/batikkers from the Javanese and Indo-European batik workshops in Banyumas.  These waxers/batikkers introduced the drawing style and specific isen Banyumas into these batik workshops. 

*(Veldhuisen, Harmen C. Batik Belanda 1840-1940, p. 123). 


Batik Panastroman, as Mrs. van Ossterom batiks were called in Java, were well known in West Java. The typical batik style of Banyumas was inspired by the style of Solo and Yogyakarta.  In Banyumas, however, Mrs. van Ossterom introduced the North Coast red and European motifs on the selendang (shoulder cloth for women) and on the ikat kepala (head cloth for men).  Mrs. van Ossterom was one of the foremost pioneers of Dutch Batik of the time.  She originally opened a batik workshop in Ungaran (Semarang), around 1845 and moved to Banyumas in 1855.    




Semen Gendong motif (Jogya)
After their wedding both husband and wife hoped that their union would be blessed with offspring.  This wish is reflected in batik with the semen gendong motif (above), which expresses their wish for a baby to gendong (carry around in a sarong used as a sling).  

From the publication, BATIK, Pola & Tjorak - Pattern & Motif, Penerbit Djambatan 1966, plate 62 (above) is an example of the Jogja motif, semen gendong.   On first impressions, it bears a strong visual resemblance to the Banyumas kain panjang, under discussion.  While it too consists of both, the mirong (a pair of wings) and the sawat gurdo (a pair of wings with extended fan-like tail feathers), surrounded by animals on a semen background,  the wings and tail feathers differ in their drawn appearance (drawn in a non-Javanese way), and the animals are more abstracted in their appearance compared to those on the Banyumas kain panjang (below). 

 

While the influences in this kain panjang are Javanese (accentuated by the sawat [or Garuda], the emblem of the court of Yogyakarta), the cloth has been most likely executed in an Indo-European workshop in Banyumas.  



Batik cloth with a combination of motifs: mirong (a pair of wings); sawat gurdo (a pair of wings with extended fan-like tail feathers); surrounded by animals on a semen background
Banyumas, ca. 1920
Matheros Skirt cloth kain panjang
Cotton, natural dyes; batik tulis
105.0 X 264.0 cm
Photo: Mick Richards
Greg Roberts & Ian Reed Collection


Acknowledgement

I wish to gratefully acknowledge Tina Tabone [TINA TABONE TEXTILE ART] from whom we purchased this beautiful cloth.  I so appreciated our correspondence relating to our shared passion for Javanese batik and also, your total trustworthiness, a plus for anyone when like us, making our/their first batik purchase online.......thank you Tina.  

http://www.tinatabone.com 


Personal Note: This year has been life-changing for me with at last, a line in the sand drawn under 20 odd years of very poor health/pain.  Three new & brilliant medical specialists looked at my chronic head pain with fresh and inspired eyes and as a result, I have been pain-free for the last seven months and now back on my Blog, just wonderful.......Life Number Two!
 
...Thank You and Stay Well Always...

Please, I always greatly appreciate any comments/feedback/insights readers and textile enthusiasts may have as I firmly believe learning, appreciating and understanding is very much, an ongoing and shared process.


Bibliography

DJOEMENA, NIAN S.  Ungkapan Sehelai BATIK Its Mystery and Meaning (bilingual).  Jakarta:  Penerbit Djambatan, 1990.

ELLIOTT, INGER MCCABE.  Batik: Fabled Cloth of Java.  New York:  Clarkson N. Potter, 1984.

VELDHUISEN, HARMEN C.  Batik Belanda 1840 - 1940: Dutch Influence in Batik from Java:  Histories and Stories.  Jakarta:  Gaya Favorit, 1993.

SMEND, RUDOLF G. (Editor).  Javanese and Sumatran Batiks from Courts and Palaces, Rudolf G. Smend Collection.  Koln:  Galerie Smend, 2000.

ACHJADI, JUDI (Text by).  The GLORY of  BATIK, The Danar Hadi Collection.  Jakarta:  BAB PUBLISHING INDONESIA, 2011.

ISHWARA, HELEN; SUPRIYAPTO YAHYA, L.R. & MOEIS, XENIA.  BATIK PESISIR, AN INDONESIAN HERITAGE, COLLECTION of HARTONO SUMARSONO.  Jakarta:  KPG (Kepustakaan Populer Gramedia), 2012.

ANDERSON, B. R. O. G. (English Text).  BATIK, Pola & Tjorak - Pattern & Motif.  Djakarta: Penerbit Djambatan, 1966.

FRASER-LU, SYLVIA.  Indonesian Batik, Processes, Patterns and Places.  Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1991.

ACHJADI, JUDI (Editor).  BATIK: Spirit of Indonesia.  Yayasan Batik Indonesia, 1999. 

HERINGA, RENS; VELDHUISEN, HARMEN C.  Fabric of Enchantment: Batik from the North Coast of Java.  Los Angeles, Los Angeles Country Museum of Art, 1996.

LIN, LEE CHOR.  BATIK; Creating an Identity.  Singapore: National Museum of Singapore and Editions Didier Millet, 2007.

DOELLAH, H. SANTOSA.  BATIK: The Impact of Time and Environment.  Danar Hadi.

<><><><><><><>

Thursday, November 18, 2021

INDRAMAYU - BATIK POAMAN ART WORKSHOP


INDRAMAYU

BATIK PAOMAN ART WORKSHOP 



Fishing villages in the vicinity of the town of Indramayu developed a bold, decorative style of batik with motifs depicting local flora and fauna.  The motifs/designs represented in the following three cloths  from the Batik Paoman Art workshop, are:

Jarot asem or Javanese tamarind motif,

Iwak etong or trubus fish motif, &

Kapal laju or fast sailing ship motif.  

(In Cirebon this motif is called Kapal kandas or the heavily laden 'ship aground' motif, symbolising maturity).

The Batik Paoman Art workshop was founded by Mrs. Hj. Siti Ruminah Sudiono.

Indramayu, like Cirebon, was once an important harbour for the inter-island and international trade.  The two towns have close cultural relationships and family ties, a result of being in close reach of each other.  As a result some of their batiks are similar both in appearance and interpretation, like Kapal kandas and Kapal laju.  Simple batik is made for local consumption by fishermen's wives with designs influenced by the sea life that gives them sustenance.


(a) JAROT ASEM or JAVANESE TAMARIND MOTIF

(Please click on images to enlarge)


Batik with Jarot asem or Javanese tamarind motif
Paoman near Indramayu
Batik Paoman Art workshop, 2000
Skirt cloth kain sarong (detail)
Cotton, synthetic dyes, batik tulis
103.0 X 191.0 cm
(Waxer - Tarsini)
Photo: Mick Richards
Greg Roberts & Ian Reed Collection



(Detail)


Batik with jarot asem or Javanese tamarind motif
Paoman near Indramayu
Batik Paoman Art workshop, around 2000
Skirt cloth kain sarong 
Cotton, synthetic dyes, batik tulis
103.0 X 191.0 cm
Photo: Mick Richards
Greg Roberts & Ian Reed Collection

This motif is called Jarot asem (Javanese tamarind motif) as it depicts the leaves and pods of this plant.  The tamarind has both culinary and medicinal applications and is commonly grown in many parts of Java.


(b) IWAK ETONG or TRUBUS FISH MOTIF

A coastal town not far west of Cirebon, Indramayu has a strong Chinese input.  The waxes are women whose family's livelihood is derived from the ocean.  The trubos fish was found in the past in great quantities, in the ocean around Indramayu.  Thus, the ocean is evident in many of its motifs/patterns, like this one with trubus fish amongst the waterweed and the occasional, very large centipede.  In Chinese iconography the fish stands for wealth, while the poisonous centipedes protects against misfortune.  



Batik with design featuring sea-creatures and poisonous centipedes
Paoman village near Indramayu
Batik Paoman Art workshop, around 2000
Skirt cloth kain panjang (detail)
Cotton, synthetic dyes; batik tulis
104.5 X 252.0 cm
(Waxer - Cinayan)
Photo: Mick Richards
Greg Roberts & Ian Reed Collection.


(Detail)


Batik with design featuring sea-creatures and poisonous centipedes
Paoman village near Indramayu
Batik Paoman Art workshop, around 2000
Skirt cloth kain panjang
Cotton, synthetic dyes; batik tulis
104.5 X 252.0 cm
Photo: Mick Richards
Greg Roberts & Ian Reed Collection


(c) KAPAL LAJU or FAST SAILING SHIP MOTIF


The design Kapal laju ('fast sailing ship') expresses the hope that everything in a person's life will run smoothly and without hindrance.  Initially this motif was associated with the palace traditions of the nearby town of Cirebon.

The patterns have been executed in thin lines against white background.  Large sections of the cloth had to be covered with wax, leaving only narrow openings for the dye to penetrate fibres and to create the contours of the designs.  The workmanship is significant when one remembers that it is the background that is drawn in wax, and not the individual lines of each of the figures.



Batik with Kapal laju motif meaning 'fast sailing ship'
Paoman near Indramayu
Batik Paoman Art workshop, around 2000
Skirt cloth kain panjang (detail)
Cotton, synthetic dyes; batik tulis
105.0 X 241.0 cm
(Waxer - Jamiah)
Photo: Mick Richards
Greg Roberts & Ian Reed Collection




(Detail)
Batik with Kapal laju motif meaning 'fast sailing ship'
Paoman near Indramayu
Batik Paoman Art workshop, around 2000
Skirt cloth kain panjang
Cotton, synthetic dyes; batik tulis
105.0 X 241.0 cm
Photo: Mick Richards
Greg Roberts & Ian Reed Collection


When you set out on your journey along the very beautiful north coast of Java, the Pasisir, I would highly recommend you include dropping into and staying a while in Indramayu.  Its people and batik will not disappoint and you will receive a very warm welcome indeed just as we did.

...THANK YOU...



BIBLIOGRAPHY


Achjadi, Judi (text by)
The GLORY of BATIK
The Danar Hadi Collection.
PT. BATIK DANAR HADI, 2011.

Achjadi, Judi (editor)
BATIK
Spirit of Indonesia.
PT. FREEPORT INDONESIA, 1999.

Elliot, Enger McCabe
Batik: Fabled Cloth of Java.
Clarkson N. Potter, Inc. /Publishers, 1984.

Djoemena, Nian S.
BATIK
Its Mystery and Meaning.
Penerbit Djambatan, 1990.

Wronska-Friend, Maria
BATIK of JAVA
poetics & politics.
Caloundra Regional Gallery, 2010.

*********

Sunday, November 14, 2021

INDRAMAYU - ANTIKA MUKTI WORKSHOP

 

INDRAMAYU 

ANTIKA MUKTI WORKSHOP


FISHING VILLAGES IN THE VICINITY OF THE TOWN OF INDRAMAYU ON THE NORTH COAST OF WEST JAVA DEVELOPED A BOLD, DECORATIVE STYLE OF BATIK WITH MOTIFS DEPICTING LOCAL FLORA AND FAUNA POSITIONED ON A WHITE, UNDYED BACKGROUND.  INDRAMAYU IS A SMALL SUNDANESE TOWN SITUATED ON THE WESTERN PART OF THE PASISIR (north coast of Java).  IT IS SLIGHTLY WEST OF CIREBON.  WOMEN IN NEARBY FISHING VILLAGES SUCH AS PAOMAN, DEVELOPED A DISTINCTIVE STYLE OF TEXTILE DECORATION WHICH IS A FOLK INTERPRETATION OF THE OLD, ELABORATE PASISIR STYLE.




Batik kelengan, used as a mourning garment
Paoman village near Indramayu
Antika Mukti workshop, 2000
Skirt cloth kain panjang (detail)
Cotton, synthetic dyes; batik tulis
104.5 X 242.0 cm
Photo: Mick Richards
Greg Roberts & Ian Reed Collection



Monochrome, dark coloured cloth is known as batik kelengen and worn as a mourning garment. Flying phoenixes placed among flowers and vines replicate on cotton the lok can design of the silks favoured by the Chinese community of Java.

  

The motif on this cloth is known as burung Huong (Phoenix) motif which proudly exhibits its Chinese influence. Perhaps the repeated use of red and in the case of this illustrated batik, blue, in batik from Indramayu was encouraged by the Chinese, for whom red symbolised fertility, happiness, good luck; blue meant sadness, mourning, and death.  In the Qing dynasty a flying phoenix became the emblem of the empress, thus a symbol of femininity and fertility.  


The batik of Indramayu is often referred to as Dermayon.  The fishermen's wives batiked while their husbands were away at sea, sometimes for as long as three or four months, in order to supplement their incomes.  For this reason they did not wish to make batiks that would take too much time to complete.  They would use a large canting on plain cloth and had very little filling of either the motifs or the background, on their batiks.  To fill the empty spaces they made cocohan (tiny dark dots) with a utensil called the complongan, shaped like a comb of sharp needles used to prick a layer of wax that covers the whole cloth, prior to the dyeing of it.  The dye penetrates the small holes and these dots take on the colour of the dye.  This myriad of small dots enhances the cloth's overall sense of detail and level of complexity. 










Court-influenced batik evolved in regions especially touched by or involved in the history of the Mataram kingdom in the 17th century, among others Indramayu, Cirebon, Garut and Banyumas.  The batik styles of Indramayu do include court-influenced batik.  In these times, this region, which is also called Dermayu, was a part of the kingdom of Galuh.  The batik-making culture was already an established part of of life in Dermayu, generated by merchants from Lasem trading in natural indigo, nila/tom. 

 

Hence, batik Dermayon is similar to Lasem batik in both design and production technique.  Not only is the cocohan technique also used as background filling but also the dyeing process is the same, utilising natural indigo, nila, giving batik Dermayon a unique character: batik with the application of a single colour only (kelengan).


(It is truly wonderful to be back on my Blog.  After many many years now good health has been returned.  I hope all is terrific for each and everyone of you.  I am so looking forward to returning to magnificent Java and visiting friends and batik workshops along the Pasisir.)


THANK YOU


BIBLIOGRAPHY

Elliot, Inger McCabe
Batik: Fable Cloth of Java.
ClarksonN. Potter, Inc./Publishers,1984

Wronska-Friend, Maria
Batik of Java: poetics & politics.
Caloundra Regional Gallery 2010.

Heringa, Rens; Veldhuisen, Harmen; Carey, Peter
Fabric of Enchantment: Batik from the North Coast of Java.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1996.

Nian S. Djoemena
Ungkapan Sehelai
BATIK Its Mystery and Meaning.
Penerbit Djambatan, 1986.

Doellah, H. Santosa
BATIK
The Impact of Time and Environment.
Headline Creative Communications 2002.

Titra, Iwan
Batik, A Play of Light and Shades.
PT. Gaya Favourite Press, Jakarta, 1997.

van Hout, Itie (ed)
BATIK - Drawn in wax.
Royal Tropical Institute - Amsterdam / KIT Publishers - Amsterdam.