Sarong

Collections
1360371
Title
Sarong
Year/Period
1941
Region
Pekalongan, north-coast Java
Technique
Dimension
Gross measurement: 107 x 205 cm
Accession No.
2017-00385
Collection of
Credit Line
Gift of Ika, Melia, and Inge Hendromartono in memory of their parents Liem Siok Hien and Jane Hendromartono, grandmother Nyonya Oeij Kok Sing, and great grandmother Nyonya Oeij Soen King

The buketan motif or a large bouquet of flowers is depicted on the brown kepala or broad vertical panel of the batik. It is decorated with vignettes of amusing animals such as a standing elephant and a hare staring at plants. On the badan or main design field, a variety of floral blooms embellish the green background. 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.

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