Java, the most populous island in Indonesia, joined the Southeast Asian trade network in the seventh century. Chinese, Indian and Islamic traders came to its shores, and later Europeans. Some settled there, primarily on the northern coast, and married Indigenous women.
Textiles — including the island’s famed batik — were one of Java’s major exports. Village women traditionally created batik in their homes. They used a canting, a small copper reservoir filled with warm beeswax, to draw patterns on either side of a white, imported cotton cloth. They dyed this fabric multiple times, removing and redrawing the wax between dye baths, to produce colorful, complex designs. Wax-resist dyeing is an ancient art form, but the virtuosity of Javanese batik is unmatched.
Over time, the widows of traders established batik workshops making a variety of patterns influenced by the diverse local cultures. Although batik was primarily used for traditional clothing, it was also made into ceremonial items, such as this “tok wi,” a cover for an ancestral altar in a Chinese home.
Inspired by embroidery from China, the design of this altar cloth is filled with auspicious symbols. The blue panel at the top features the Eight Immortals of Taoism, legendary heroes from Chinese mythology. At the center is a dragon, representing the Emperor and the yang/male force, flanked by phoenixes, symbols of the empress and the yin/female force. Double lozenges convey happiness in marriage, lotuses represent purity, and a mythical “xiezhi” creature bestows protection and fertility.
An artist uses a canting tool to draw designs for a batik in wax. © arttikstockphoto/iStock.com.
