The buketan design, comprising large bouquets of European flowers interspersed with butterflies and birds, is shown on this sarong. A bouquet of carnations is set against a pastel blue ground of dense tendrils on the broad vertical panel (kepala) of this sarong. The same carnation bouquet is repeated on the badan (‘body’ or main design feature of this batik), and surrounded by swirling floral motifs. This batik is part of a large group donated to the museum by the descendants of three generations of female batik makers from Pekalongan. It was made by the grandmother of the donors, Nyonya Oeij Kok Sing. Nyonya Oeij Kok Sing was a second-generation batik maker in Pekalongan. She began to produce high quality batiks in the 1920s. Her batiks from the 1930s reveal great technical virtuosity and a creative use of colour, made possible by synthetic dyes from Europe. After the Second World War, her daughter Jane Hendromartono (1924–1988) took over the family batik business.
