Title
Altar cloth
Year/Period
Early 20th century
Region
Lasem, Central Java
Accession No.
1995-00562
Collection of
Tok wik ('zhuoqun') literally, 'altar skirt' in Chinese, is a Baba Malay term to refer to the cloth attached to the front of altar tables during significant occasions such as weddings, funerals and on feast days. This squarish, cotton cloth has auspicious Chinese motifs qilin, lotus in vase, phoenix drawn in batik in red against a broad white frame.Batik is a very important aspect of life and culture in Java, and of the entire Indonesian archipelago. This cloth was probably used for the table in front of the ancestral altar in a Peranakan Chinese family.
