Sarong

This sarong features a buketan (bouquet) motif, though the buketan on the kepala (head) has a different design from those on the bedan (body). The kepala also has different types of flowers as filler motifs, set against a dark blue background. It is signed "Nj: Oeij Kok Sing" and stamped "7 Sept 193? / Agam Riadi". Oeij is the historical Dutch spelling for Oey, a Chinese Indonesian surname of Hokkien origin. 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.