Title
Jacket
Year/Period
second half of 19th century
Region
South Sumatra
Dimension
Gross measurement: 109.5 x 153 cm
Accession No.
2011-00097
Collection of
Credit Line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Lee Kip Lee
This 'baju panjang' or jacket is fashioned from finely hand painted cotton probably intended for the European market. It is decorated with a flowering tree design with pomegranates, cherries and diverse flowers in pink, blue and light brown. This is set against a cream background.The Malay baju panjang is a sort of long, loose coat once popular with both men and women. It relates to the Indo-Arabic banyan worn by Gujarati merchants, which came to be popular with Europeans. Malay popular tradition holds that the baju panjang was introduced with the arrival of Islam in the Malay World which required a more modest form of dress.
