Day about batik entrepreneur Haji Bilal at Wereldmuseum Amsterdam

Batik by Haji Bilal, with paper labels with his portrait on it

Collection Wereldmuseum Amsterdam, TM-5663-1376

On 19 May, together with the sisters Wati and Ifa, we organised a day to share about the batik by Haji Bilal and other lesser-known batikmakers & histories from Yogyakarta.

Last Summer Wati reached out to me when visiting her family in Yogyakarta. We were at the same moment in Indonesia and I just met Mbak Elok of the great Batik instagram page @lawasanbatikofficial at Museum Nasional. Turned out they are family and Wati wanted to do something with the Batik history of Haji Bilal in the Netherlands. Later during my stay on Java, I visited Elok's place. She created a small exhibition space in which she shares the history of Haji Bilal, read more in my previous post 'Keeping legacies in Yogya'. Wati, her sister Ifa and me got the idea to start with a small event to share the story and history of batik entrepreneur Haji Bilal to get people interested in this topic together. 

Small Haji Bilal exhibition at the store Batik Yogya Kembali, 

on the right kain a drawing of wayang figures in pencil

From my visit in August 2025

Example of Wayang wall hanging by Haji Bilal

From my visit in August 2025

Haji Bilal started his Firma Haji Bilal in 1912 with about 700 employees. To survive the financial crisis in the 1930’s he started making next the kains, table cloths, scarves and more. Till his passing in 1948 he produced batik, after which his children continued. It wasn’t easy to sell batiks in the 1960’s anymore, mostly due to printed textiles with batik motifs, so the family ventured into other businesses, like opening hotels. Luckily the batik building remained within the family, as their home and now again batik shop.

At Wereldmuseum Amsterdam we visited the depot where I put together a selection of batiks showing the development through several makers and photographs from an exhibition held in 1925 in Yogyakarta. In two groups we went to the depot. While one group was looking at the batiks, the other group was in the museum. 

Portrait of Wilhelmina Frederika van Lawick van Pabst, 

in the HALI article 'Mancilawik, Portrait of a Batik Entrepreneur' 

by Sandra Niessen from 2022

The batiks we first looked at are made by Wilhelmina Frederika van Lawick van Pabst. She produced several batiks from exhibitions held in Europe around 1900. Similar motifs Haji Bilal used can be already found in the designs made by Van Lawick van Pabst. We looked at a full batik sarong by her and several small samples she made of klassiek Javanese kraton related motifs. 

Batik sarong, TM-932-64, Van Lawick van Pabst

Collection Wereldmuseum Amsterdam

Label on Batik sarong, TM-932-64, Van Lawick van Pabst

Collection Wereldmuseum Amsterdam

Badan of Batik sarong, TM-932-64, Van Lawick van Pabst

Collection Wereldmuseum Amsterdam

Small batik samples made Van Lawick van Pabst, inventory number TM-15-16-8

Collection Wereldmuseum Amsterdam

Next we looked at batik wall hangings and table cloths with wayang on them. I learned from my visit last year that this was also produced by Haji Bilal. Mbak Elok showed several batiks, finished and unfinished, with wayang figures on it, that were tablecloths, wallhangings and full kains. In the pieces shown at Wereldmuseum I could include an example made by the still active Batik Winotosastro. Last August my first tour started at this amazing location run by Ibu Hani. It was the first place I ever tried nyanting (drawing wax with the canting, waxpen, on cloth)

Wallhanging by Batik Winotosastro, TM-5663-1348 

Collection Wereldmuseum Amsterdam

Table cloth, maker not documented, TM-788-50 

Collection Wereldmuseum Amsterdam

Wall hanging, maker not documented, TM-5663-1350

Collection Wereldmuseum Amsterdam

Of course we also looked at the two batiks by Haji Bilal in the Wereldmuseum collection, one from 1930’s in a classic Sogan (brown and blue) colour, and one in a hot pink with buta (or paisleys) in brown scattered over the cloth from the 1950’s. The older one has still the labels on it, including a portrait of Haji Bilal, and several stamps, the other one was only signed.

Batik by Haji Bilal, with stamps

Collection Wereldmuseum Amsterdam, TM-5663-1376

Collection Wereldmuseum Amsterdam, TM-5663-1376

Batik by Haji Bilal

Collection Wereldmuseum Amsterdam, TM-5663-1377

Batik by Haji Bilal, signed 'Fa. H. Bilal'

Collection Wereldmuseum Amsterdam, TM-5663-1377

After depot and museum visit, we had under the enjoyment of Indonesian snacks & teh botol time to chat, look at more batiks & books. It opened up many conversations. Even an improv how to tie a batik in different ways. One participants had a top she actually made by tying a sarong. The day diving into Batiks from Yogyakarta flew by. 

Something to organise again, maybe to look at other batiks form other cities in this museum depot!