This batik is structured in the pagi-sore format, comprising two different but related designs on each half of the kain panjang. On one side, butterflies and fishes are interspersed among tulip blooms. In contrast, orchids, butterflies and parrots occupy the other half. The ochre background of this kain panjang is characterisitic of the Kudus style, and recalls the soga brown Central Javanese batiks. 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 mother of the donors, Jane Hendromartono, the last of the three generations. Jane Hendromartono came from a family of batik makers in Pekalongan. She used many names in her lifetime. Her first batiks were created under her mother’s name, Nyonya Oeij Kok Sing (1895–1966). She began using her husband’s name, Liem Siok Hien, in 1947. From 1967 her works were marketed as Hendromartono’s Batik Art “Unique”, using her husband’s new Indonesian family name. She rarely repeated designs, and her highly individualistic style and inventive use of colour made her batiks popular at home and abroad.
