Batik Nyonyas and grandmothers blankets

This design was first done by Oeij Kok Sing, but made again by her daughter Jane Hendromartono, she included often tiny fish

First room in the exhibition ‘Batik Nyonyas’ highlighting batiks from the end of the 19th century, beginning 20th century made in Pekalongan

Build up of exhibition ‘TAMBAL’ at aNERDgallery

After a full week, I headed on 16 July to Singapore by bus for the weekend. Since I am making an small exhibition there that will open 22 August at aNERDgallery, I wanted to leave some of the stuff I already gathered & brought, there. Also to relax a little bit before going further and to finally see the Batik Nyonyas exhibition.

I arrived in after a quick busride and had a nice easy evening & morning. After some much needed social media updates, I headed out to aNERDgallery. Just to hang out and say hi. Also the artist Adel Ng was coming in to set-up the current exhibition, Tambal, inspired by the quilted blankets her grandmother made, the tambal motif in Batik & her own slow-fashion upcycle brand Muta Wear. She will be aNERDhost, while Tony is on Java, mostly with me. 

Adel Ng upcycle station at aNERDgallery 

Detail of quilted blanket of Adel Ng grandmother

In the early evening I headed to the Batik Nyonyas talk held at ACM, Modernity Unseen, The Free-Spirited Batiks of Nyonya
Oeij Soen King and Her Contemporaries from the North Coast of Java
I booked the bus a day earlier to catch this talk. When I found out the program, I knew I would be in my feelings. In my hurt feelings, but it was also very surprising!
The evening luckily also brought me to textile friends, which whom I had a nice dinner after with much to discuss on the talk & exhibition.

Peranakan Museum in Singapore

The fine mesh showing up on the photos,

 with a little creativity I was able to get okay photos

Next day I finally got to see the exhibition ‘Batik Nyonyas’. Made 800+ photos, normally it would be 100 or so, let’s say I felt really inspired. But also made so many because how it is displayed behind a very fine mesh makes it difficult to take pictures. Deliberate or to protect it, unclear, but I was pretty determined to get details. Who knows when these will be on display again and if I ever get acces to them.
The exhibition tells the story of three generations of batikproducers in Pekalongan on Java in Indonesia, Nyonya Oeij Soen King, her daughter-in-law Nyonya Oeij Kok Sing, and her granddaughter Jane Hendromartono. The first generation started at the end of the 19th century, while the third and last work until 1980’s. The batiks and other objects in the exhibition were kept by the three daughters of the last one. These daughters also provided extra information & stories, which is also shown in a video interview with them. This extra layer, with stories on production, preserverende and clear provenance makes this exhibition pretty unique. How wonderful I get to chance to actual visit. 
One of the earlier organized talks, was with them too. A much watch the video on Youtube ‘Three Nyonyas and an Esteemed Collaborator: Family Memories of Batik Making in Pekalongan’

The three daughters

Old photographs of the batikworkshop shared in the video

The first generation brings some confusion. The sisters say all were made by their greatgrandmother Nyonya Oeij Soen King, but she didn’t sign and all are very different (sounds familiar..). The choice, or belief, to present this pieces all by her, makes for a difficult story to tell. Previously research has been done on the cotton, colour & dye use to determine if one maker could be identified (and now..?). In the catalog was mentioned: 
“A common assumption is that an individual batik workshop would stick to a consistent dyeing practice that differed from other workshops. This was purported in a study by Proaño Gaibor et al., the first technical study of batiks, which concluded that Franquemont's batiks originated from different workshops because of the different dyes identified. However, the present study has shown otherwise.
By including signed batiks of different makers in comparison to Oeij's, the results revealed a wide range of cotton fabric and different dyestuffs for the reds of all four batik makers, without showing a systematic relationship to the maker.” 

Attributed to the first generation, Oeij Soen King

Photo-album gifted to Jasper with enlarged photograph of the ‘jaarmarkt’ exhibition behind it

Snowwhite batik detail, Batik signed by ‘L.Metz’

But my research was based on the specific story that the green used by Von Franquemont was her own unique invention, and therefor we researched all the colours including the green to find out they were all dyed differently, apart from the green that was done all the same in a not secret or special way, but with the oldest dye method known to create green in batik... (read full report here link ) So let’s say their conclusion on our study being wrong, and in fact we conclude the same, is so odd.
During the talk I attended the night before, the researchers explained they could not prove the batiks were made by one person or workshop. (Yes..). And did not claim they were all from the same maker. They also shared they misidentify their secret colour red and a new version of the catalog will be made. Hopefully they will rewrite their conclusion too, I hope.

Display on introduction of synthetic dyes to the batik industry

From Nyonya Oeij Kok Sin's album, 1940s-1950s

Sarongs by Nyonya Oeij Kok Sing and Jane Hendromartono, 

above signed by Jane in 1967, 

sarong below stamped by Oeij Kok Sing, 9 september 1941

For me the main question is, why go through all this afford to present these 18 batiks from one workshop? Wouldn’t it raise more interesting findings if the questions are, were are these batiks from? What are all the differences & what are the similarities? Was she indeed a batikmaker, or could some be her wardrobe or was she perhaps a reseller? I wonder right away, are there marks of wear, or details to link it to other pieces with a clear provenance. 
Anyway, the first section of the exhibition had for me very wonderful signed batiks including one with Snowwhite. It also has an album I would love to get my hands on, a photo-album gifted to Jasper in 1923 to celebrate his annual fair activities. Peter Lee shared some images during his talk and luckily some were used enlarged in the exhibition. Fascinating!

Two hangings with a depiction of Mai Langfang, a Chinese Peking opera artist playing the role of Tiannu Sanhua doing the sleeve dance, left batik by Jane, right by Oeij Kok Sing

Batik by Jane Hendromartono from early 1950's

Batik left signed by J. Jans, 1900's, Batik right signed 'Nj. Oeij Kok Sing P.K.L.' and stamped

In the ‘Batik Nyonyas’ exhibition I connected most to the Batiks from the 19th century, probably because my research is focussed on this period in batik history, but felt another kind of strong connection to Jane Hendromartono story.

Sketch by Jane Hendromartono

Display of the cap items Jane Hendromartono produced

Batik by Jane Hendromartono with little fish detail

The story of Jane Hendromartono is probably the most detailed, since her daughters could re-tell, and certainly the most artistic. Jane experimented a lot, to keep up with fashion trends, market demands and her own interests. 
It was nice that in this part we really get to know the maker, with early drawings, a childhood dairy in Dutch(!!), all kind of business items like stationary, cards. Jane also started producing cap next to her Batik Tulis pieces. The little cap that says ‘100% batik tulis’ took me out, technically the batik tulis would be 99,99% Batik Tulis if this tiny cap is used.
If her grandmother did make the variety the museum is claiming, Jane is indeed a testament to that story. 
I especially liked the 70’s ready to wear section, with maxi skirts & belts, I want all! Especially the skirt in aquagreen!

The exhibition is an amazing celebration of these three generations and a reflection on the history they were part of. A must see, open till 31 August in Singapore!

Read more here on the exhibition: Interview with Peter Lee | “Batik Nyonyas: Three Generations of Art and Entrepreneurship" — Art of The Ancestors | 

Island Southeast Asia, Oceania, and Global Tribal Art News

Hafiz showing his newly bought newly made chintz, including wax resist

Hafiz at aNERDstore heading out with his storytelling stuff

Hafiz Rashid's talk at One Punngolo

On Saturday I enjoyed a talk by Hafiz Rashid at One Punggolo about batik used as a medium for storytelling. Hafiz who is always dressed for the part of historical, fairytale & legends storyteller gave a presentation on the telling on stories to the writing down of stories. How in early books the text are highlighting to read out-loud. He used batiks from his own collection to invite the audience to do some storytelling themselves. It was really interesting to hear how they interpreted the batiks.

Currently I am on Java, I will update my blog & social media whenever I can & wifi allows me ;) ~ thank you for following my journey to Batik

Lecturer’s life for me

After picking up my badge for the symposium in Laos

Talk at De Lakenhal in Leiden on 6 April 

about the Leidse Cottonprinting Company (Leidsche Katoenmaatschappij)

Photo by Koen de Wit

Talk at the International Association for the Study of Silk Road Textiles 

(IASSRT) symposium in Laos

Sorry for not updating, I have been sharing stories, but not here on my blog, so time for a much needed update. After returning from my journey abroad end of November 2024, I had right away a depot visit, worked on a private collection and gave a guest lecture at the university in Amsterdam. 

I took time off in January and February to catch up on all the things I didn’t get to finish before I left, but mostly spend it making new plans, writing blogs for Modemuze and preparing for talks. 

Showing batiks from my own collection and brought by the audience on 16 March 

during a talk on Batik influenced by Chinese culture

Photo by Koen de Wit

End of February I gave my first talk of this year, and after that I gave 4 more, all on different topics. It felt like a lecturer’s life for me. I do enjoy sharing stories in the form of a talk. Selecting images for the slideshow, digging in my archive of own made photographs and historical pictures. Thinking on what talk about, what angles to address and with what to conclude. To create a flow in which the audience can go with me, following my train of thought and can have hopefully the same ‘aha’ moments as I had when researching it. 
Apart from selecting images to show, I always try to include actual textiles, books and making tools. Depending on the space, I either show the textiles myself, ask someone to show it around or just pass it along. So people can really get a closer look. I also enjoy dressing up for the gig. Of course in style, either in batik, or kebaya, to make Batik Statements on stage. The suit I let made for my exhibition ‘Masa depan Batik’ opening is a fan favorite. I am always asked by the audience if I can tell something about my outfit, which is so nice. The kebaya my friend Liesna made for me has been wonderful to wear during two talks now on the researchproject ‘Meaning of the white kebaya’. The colorful flower-design modern kebaya gives the right contrast with the herstory of the colonial, yet still relevant white European style kebaya we talk about. 

My talk on the herstory of the white kebaya at KB on 3 October 2024

Photo by Koen de Wit

Dido Michielsen and I looking at the white kebaya exhibition 

we made at KB in Den Haag. 

Photo by Koen de Wit

So what have been sharing in my talks.
Last year I got to give a total of 10 talks. Mostly on my research done on the Dutch influence on Batik, specifically the impact of the imitations, but also to share new research I done with Dido Michielsen on the white kebaya. On 3 October we organized a full day program to explore this clothing piece, that is part of our Dutch colonial history and is still worn in Southeast Asia. 
The reason to start researching was the private collection of Dido Michielsen, in which batiks and kebaya’s have been saved worn by familymembers. But who exactly worn them hasn’t been passed on. We joined forces to research the pieces and hope in this way to unravel their provenance. Of the batiks I knew a lot already, but of kebaya’s  I knew little. The 10 kebaya were all white with a straight bottom edge, mostly decorated with lace. This is here considered European style or even ‘Indisch’ (Indo-European). I started looking for information, reading in books and articled. The same, short narrative of this garment seemed to be repeated everywhere. That this kebaya was to emphasis the wearers position, specifically as a position above everyone else in the former Dutch East Indies, nowadays Indonesia. The garment was also according to most authors better, more expensive and luxuries than what was worn traditionally locally. This Eurocentric point of view was highlighted by the end date of the white kebaya, after the 1920’s no lady was wearing it, certainly not outdoors, only perhaps Indo-Europeans still wore it at home. Europeans frown upon it and in literature, mostly novels, of the time this differences between the upperclass groups is highlighted at every possible moment. Although the ‘Indische romans’, novels on life in the Dutch East indies, were often written by women with roots in the colony, most historical writing on kebaya’s has been done by men. I got curious, is this really the story and meaning of the white kebaya? Could we find out more?
We applied for funding, and got it! A funding by Vfonds specifically for Indo-European and Moluccan intangible heritage projects in the Netherlands. 
The literature we examined gave more  questions than answers, so we came up with a plan to gather more data. With an open call we asked people to share wearers stories with us. We asked if people still had actual white kebaya’s or photographs of wearers and could tell us more about the weaerers.
From this we started to get a sense of the divers background of wearers, but also a clearer timeline. The wearing of the white kebaya did not at inn the 1920’s, it continued into the 1950’s for sure.
We also talked with different experts, both in the Netherlands and in Indonesia and Singapore. From Indonesia we got to most interesting respons, the garment we thought was in the colonial past, was actual currently still being worn, mostly for special occasions and even trendy for weddings. Also the popularity of the white kebaya was more linked to an actual Indonesian wearer, the Javanese women’s rights activist Raden Ajeng Kartini. We spoke with slowfashiondesigner Riri Rengganis on this topic and she recorded a great video for us.

 

Our research was suppose to be shown at the Tong Tong Fair, with an exhibition and program. When they were declared bankrupted, we went looking for a new location since most preparations were done. We had 11 kebaya’s on loan of which we knew the possible wearer and their story. I made a timeline, starting at 1780 and continuing into now, with images, drawing, paintings & photographs from archives and send in after our open call. 
Luckily KB in Den Haag saw potential in our project and offered us space to organise an event, but also a pop-up exhibition. 
To see more, read more here (both posts are in Dutch, but with photos of the exhibition & event):
~ 'De witte kebaya in de KB'
~ Modemuze blog 'De witte Kebaya'

Talk on batik & imitation Batik on 5 October 2024 in Arnhem

Photo by Koen de Wit

Talk in Deventer on 26 February about the cottonprinting company Ankersmit 

Talk at De Lakenhal in Leiden on 6 April 

about the Leidse Cottonprinting Company (Leidsche Katoenmaatschappij)

Photo by Koen de Wit

Next to the kebaya, I have been working on the Dutch imitations, the real Batik Belanda. At the end of 2023 I started working with Textielmuseum Tilburg on a project to disclose one of their oldest museum collections, the Driessen collection. This collection was bought in the 1950’s and consists of textiles, literature on textile, sample- and dye recipe-books, correspondence and more archive material from and collected by the last director of De Leidse Katoenmaatschappij (Cotton printing company Leiden, LKM), Louis Driessen.
Louis André Driessen (1890-1954) run the based in the city center of Leiden cotton printing company until it was declared bankrupt in 1936. Driessen also working as a colorist (specialist in dyeing of fabrics), hold the collection together.
I knew and already worked with this collection, also for the Things That Talk zone I made, so it was great to help out and guide the volunteers who processed the collection. 
Working on this project it made me curious about the lasting impact and the connection with the still very high on demand fast fashion of Batik Print (machine printed textiles with batik motifs). Most focus has been on the influence of Wax Print in West-Africa, but the impact in Southeast Asia has been researched far less. When I saw the call for papers for the upcoming International Association for the Study of Silk Road Textiles (IASSRT), I knew it would be good to send in a proposal on this topic. Since it was held in Laos, it would be a could place to address the other less known markets for the fake batiks. The main focus was of course on Indonesia, at that time under Dutch colonial rule. The products went to Batavia, nowadays Jakarta, to Sumatra, Malaysia and Singapore. But they also went to other places such as Cambodia and Myanmar. The compagnies also adopted and copied other textiles made with techniques like ikat and tie-dye.
To my surprise and delight I got selected. Although nothing was compensated and I had to pay everything in full, I thought it would be good to be there in person, and it truly was! Seeing textile colleagues & friends from all over the world. I combined the symposium with exploring batik, imitations and other textile traditions in Bangkok, Laos and North Vietnam. It really gave me a new perspective and clarity to my journey to Batik, as I shared in my posts while traveling.

Talk at SEA Junction, in Bangkok, Thailand

speaker at the event 'Unravelling Colonial Textiles' on 27 March 

in the Kartini room in Amsterdam

Textiles from the study collection of UvA on display

in the former VOC room, renamed Kartini room

My journey was also noticed back home, resulting in being booked for talks, as a guest lecturer at the university in Amsterdam and for workshops, but also in a great double article in my favorite newspaper De Volkskrant. In the articles journalist Vanessa Oostijen explains my practice in which I use lessons from our colonial past to understand current processes such as Fast Fashion. And the important lessons we should and could learn from craftwomenship.

Articles in the magazine of De Volkskrant, written by Vanessa Oo

It is great to share the stories with an audience and being payed for my time & research. It is not the most sustainable or practical way of keeping my work going, but it is at least keeping me afloat. I really hope I can do more in depth research, got many dreams such as publishing books, making exhibitions, practicing batik making and much more. I am very proud my journey brought me now on stage, but I need to figure out how to survive in the meantime. This is not me complaining, far from it, but keeping it real on this blog, as you know. 

My blog is 16 years old on 21 April... I graduated in 2007, working now 18 years as an artist. I feel my journey to Batik is getting all grown-up. I am exciting for what is coming up this year; like the first journey to Batik you can actually join (more info here), my first Masterclass on making & dyeing Batik together with masterdyer Loret Karman and I am bringing ‘Masa depan Batik’ to the Netherlands!! You heard it here first! In October at Indonesia House in Amsterdam!

So see you and till next blogpost! 

Selamat Hari Kartini & Salam Canting! 

Batik Statement Essay

To keep up with traditions, I post today on my blog to celebrate my 14 years journey to Batik. Normally I share a Batik Statement in the form of a photo or photoseries. I did of course share photos on social media for this celebration. But for here I though I share a writing I did last Summer, that until today didn't get published. So might as well share it here. A Batik Statement in essay form, a first!

I would like to thank everyone who joined me, supported me & guided me on this journey to Batik. I hope I can learn, study and enjoy Batik for many more years to come. I would like to thank the pembatiks, those of the past and present for keeping this amazing legacy alive, terima kasih banyak/Matur nuwun!

Selamat membaca, have a wonderful Hari Kartini! Selamat Idul fitri and thank you for visiting my blog today!

Label on batik that was attributed to Von Franquemont

WM-27272, collection Wereldmuseum Rotterdam

Re-telling the history of the (Indo-)European influence on Batik - Sabine Bolk

In my research project ‘Re-telling the history of the (Indo-)European (2) influence on Batik’, the goal is to re-tell the history of (Indo-)European influence on Batik between 1850 and 1890. I chose this timeframe, because according to literature (1) this is when a European influence became visible in Batik designs. In my research I work with re-telling in words and images to give answers to the following question: How was Batik influenced by Europe? 

Von Franquemont as a starting point

My research starting point is Carolina Josephina von Franquemont (1817-1867). 

Von Franquemont is a well-known name within the Batik community. In literature (1) it is written that she was the first Indo-European to run a Batik workshop around 1850 on Java, Indonesia. That she was locally known under the name ‘Prankemon’ and famous for her use of a green dye.

Several Batiks from collections worldwide are attributed to Von Franquemont, attributed as in thought to be made by her or made in her Batik workshop. Von Franquemont did not sign her Batiks and almost all attributions were made decades after her death in 1867.

To re-tell the history of the (Indo-)European influence on Batik, I use the story about, and Batiks attributed to Carolina Josephina von Franquemont as a starting point. I started mapping out what is actually the Dutch, European and Indo-European influence on Javanese Batik. How is it described in literature1, what sources are there, who wrote what, when and why?

Indo-European influence is usually linked to Carolina Josephina von Franquemont. But can this influence truly be traced back to one individual? What other factors have had a role in this development? 

European interest in Batik

In the 19th century the interest for Batik in Europe grew. Museums started buying Batiks, Batiks were shown during Colonial Exhibitions and people, mostly white Dutch men, started researching Batik. 

The first to write about Carolina Josephina von Franquemont was Gerret Pieter Rouffaer (1860-1928). In his book ‘De Batik-kunst van Nederlandsch-Indië en haar geschiedenis’ published in 1914 Rouffaer writes in more detail about Von Franquemont. This book is still seen today as an important source for information on Batik. His writing on, and the Batiks he attributed to Von Franquemont, start a century long fascination for Von Franquemont.

Other researchers and conservators such as Tropenmuseum conservators Johanna Pape-van Steenacker (1901-1978), Rita Bolland (1919-2006), Itie van Hout and Daan van Dartel have added to this information over time. In the book ‘Splendid symbols, Textiles and traditions from Indonesia’ by Dr. Mattiebelle Gittinger, published in 1979 Von Franquemonts alleged death is described for the first time. “The secrets of this dye (…) perished with the woman herself in an earthquake in June 1867”.  

Over time the earthquake turned into a volcanic eruption, and this version of the story about her death has been repeated till today.

When I started my research the first thing I started looking for was information on her death and the possible location of her Batikworkshop. On a blog about Indo-European family trees, a newspaper message was shared. The author of the blog, Roel de Neve, did not realise what Batik history he had uncovered; “Today, after a long sickbed, Miss C. J. Von Franquemont, our beloved sister, passed away”. The obituary, sent in by her brother, confirmed Von Franquemont was not swept away by an earthquake, nor by a Volcanic eruption, but that she had passed away after a long sickbed. For Modemuze I wrote a post about this with the title ‘Verzwolgen en verdwenen: de batik erfenis van Franquemont’. This blogpost marked the start of my ongoing research. 

Batik Belanda

In 1993 the book ‘Batik Belanda’ by Harmen Veldhuisen (1943-2020) was published. In his book he describes a specific style within Batik which was according, to Veldhuisen, made by and for European and Indo-European women in the former Dutch East Indies. Von Franquemont is put in the book as the starter of this trend as the so-called ‘Mother of Batik Belanda’.

I got fascinated by this history. In Europe we almost always mention these ‘Indo-European Batiks’ first, while this history is often just a footnote in Indonesia and most Batikmakers never even heard of it. The book ‘Batik Belanda’ was published also in Bahasa Indonesia. For most Indonesians the book is the first time they learn about these European influenced Batiks. A large part of the Veldhuisen Batik collection ended up in the Tropenmuseum, the other part went to Danar Hadi, the private Batikmuseum in Solo on Java. A special room in the museum is dedicated to ‘Batik Belanda’. 

Veldhuisen coined the term ‘Batik Belanda’, but actually this term for Batiks was not use in the 19th and beginning of the 20th century.

The growing interest in Europe for Batik in the 19th century, was not just because they thought it was beautiful, they thought Batik was an interesting business opportunity. When Thomas Stamford Raffles (1781-1826) described the Batik technique in his book ‘The History of Java’, published in 1817, Raffles did this because he thought it would be a good idea to make imitations. These imitations would be made in England and then shipped to Asia to be sold there. Other cotton-printing compagnies in Europe started making these fake Batiks as well and shipped them to SouthEast Asia. 

From the 1850’s onwards imitation Batiks were made in the Netherlands, Switzerland, France and England. These imitations from Europe or fake Batik, became known as Batik Belanda.

The imitation Batiks were made partly by machines and partly by hand. The machines had copper rolls that would print a motif on the cloth using a kind of resin. The blue was dyed in a colour bath and other colours were added with block printing.

In response to these cheaper fake Batiks, the Batik Cap industry on Java grew throughout the mid-19th century. Batik Cap was faster to produce than Batik Tulis. It was therefor also cheaper.

Batik Cap was great for competing with the imitations from Europe. The imitations were cheap, but people on Java preferred real Batik. They would buy Batik Cap, or save money to buy Batik Tulis. The European cotton-printers were baffled that their cheap mass produced imitations would not sell. It was actually the earliest form of fast fashion and it was not very successful.

Samuel Cornelis Jan Willem van Musschenbroek (1827-1883) writes in 1878 about imitations the following: “But, keep in mind, always as imitation (Batik tiron), or Batik welondå, Dutch Batik, a Batik ‘of its own kind’. Never did Javanese people see the imitation for (real) Javanese Batik”

For the platform Things That Talk run by research associate Fresco Sam-Sin, I made a page, a zone, within the website to share more on one of the Dutch cotton-printing compagnies, De Leidsche Katoenmaatschappij LKM). In the zone ‘Fabric(s) of Leiden’ students unravel the stories behind objects from collections  like the Museum Volkenkunde and Wereldmuseum to uncover the history and legacy of the LKM.

Provenance

Next to literature (1) research, I started working out the provenance of all Batiks attributed, at one point in time, to Von Franquemont within the Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen (NMvW) and the Wereldmuseum.

In this process I found pieces that were attributed to her, but were never used in publications, also some had not been photographed yet or only had partial pictures. So new photos were taken for the NMvW Museum System (TMS) database of all Batiks I looked at.

An essay on the Provenance of the Prankemon sarongs while be published later this year, hopefully in June, in the publication Provenance #4 by NMvW/Wereldmuseum

With all the research I did on Batiks attributed to Von Franquemont, I noticed how important it is to know the wearer. Batiks in museum collections have often limited provenance, especially if it is bought from a collector. Not always is written down if the person who donated the Batiks actually wore the Batiks themselves, but the family tree can sometimes provide some insights on to whom the Batiks belonged. If a family member did live in the former Dutch East Indies, it could be that the Batiks might have been worn by them. So with little information you can sometimes still find out a lot. Extensive collections have been kept in the Netherlands, privately and in museum-collections. These kept Batik-collections can give us new interesting insights and different angles on how to share this history.

Already from looking at a Batik you can often tell if it was worn or not. Many of the pieces in the Dutch collections were specifically collected for the museum and thus were never worn. 

So I always get extra excited if a piece has been worn, because worn pieces can tell us more than the unworn ones. Markers for Batiks being worn are that the sarongs are sown together or were sown together, have a faded colour and sometimes even mended parts.

During The Association of Dress Historians Annual New Research Conference 2022 I shared my current research that is focussed more on the wearer, especially on ladies that were of European descent, who dressed in Batik sarongs themselves, during colonial times in Indonesia. For this presentation I focussed on 41 Batiks from the Tropenmuseum collection, TM-2899-1 - TM-2899-41, that were donated by Jonkvrouwe Anna Cecile Aurélie Jeanne Clifford (1884-1960), Jonkvrouwe as in damsel. Hence the title ‘A Batik collection fit for a Lady’. Daan van Dartel, my research advisor & Curator of Fashion at the Tropenmuseum already published on Lily, as she was called for short, in the booklet ‘Collectors Collected’. 

Lily’s donation is an unusual wardrobe for a lady whom apparently had never been to Indonesia herself. The Batiks most likely belonged to her mother, Theodora Adriana Lammers van Toorenburg, who was born in 1852 in the former Dutch East Indies. This collection provides us with interesting insights into what was worn by whom and how the wearer can provide us with provenance that is often overlooked in Batik-research. 

I will turn this presentation into an article for The journal of Dress History.  In Dutch a shorter article by me about this was already published in the magazine Batik! 

Prankemon Green

Next to the provenance, I am working on an analysis of the dyes used in the Von Franquemont Batiks. According to Rouffaer she was famous for her natural and colourfast green. However the Batiks have never been examined to determine what specific dye was actually used.

Together with Art Proaño Gaibor of Rijksdienst van Cultureel Erfgoed (RCE) we made a plan to examine the dyes. Nowadays with a very small sample research can be done on the type of dye, natural or synthetic, what materials were used to recreate the dye or if mordants were used. 

I selected 5 Batiks that had the best provenance. Not that we know for certain these were made by Von Franquemont, this cannot be said of any Batiks I looked at. But these 5 Batiks had a clear date of entering the collection and from which person the donation came. From 5 Batiks we took samples of each colour. A sample is just 2 mm of one thread. As a little premiere I can share that all dyes in the 5 Batiks are made from natural materials. Although all 5 Batiks were attributed to Von Franquemont at one point in time, all 5 are dyed differently, which tells us that they seem to be from 5 different workshops. We are working out the differences between the dyes in a report that will be publicly available soon.

Future of Batik

When it comes down to re-telling the history of the (Indo-)European influence on Batik there is still much to explore.

For the current display showing Batiks with an ‘Indo-European influence’ at the Wereldmuseum Rotterdam that opened in 2020, I advised for the selection of Batiks. I also wrote a three part article on these Batiks for the magazine ‘Tribale Kunst’. It was later published in a shorter English version in the Textile Asia Journal.

If I look at this display now, I think we might show Batiks from the past differently in the future. All these Batiks have an interesting story to tell, but by grouping them in this way, we loose part of the story, specifically the Asian side of the story. The focus is now often on facts that cannot be checked nor proven, while the new uncovered data isn’t used, yet. I hope that my re-telling of this history provides us with more interesting, but above all more correct, layered stories.

Detail of Batik bedcover donated by a niece of Von Franquemont

WM-26938, collection Wereldmuseum Rotterdam

1) Literature examples in which Carolina Josephina von Franquemont is mentioned, aside from the books mentioned in this blogpost:

‘Batikken’ in the Encyclopedie van Nederlandsch-Indië (1917) Gerret Pieter Rouffaer

‘Das Batiken, eine Blüte indonesischen Kunstlebens’ (1926) J.A. Loebèr

‘Batiks from Java, The refined beauty of an ancient Craft’ (1960) Rita Bolland, Dr. J. H. Jager Gerlings and L. Langewis, Tropenmuseum

Catalog ‘Fabric of Enchantment, batik from the North coast of Java’ (1997) Inger McCabe Elliot, Rens Heringa and Harmen Veldhuisen, LACMA

‘Building on Batik: The Globalization of a Craft Community’ (2000) Michael Hitchcock

‘Batik, Drawn in wax, 200 years of batik art from Indonesia in the Tropenmuseum collection’ (2001), Itie van Hout, KIT Publishers

‘Batik: Design, Style & History’ (2004) Fiona Kerlogue

‘Batik Design’ (2004) Pepin van Roojen

‘Glory of Batik, The Danar Hadi Collection’ (2011) J. Achjadi

Catalog ‘Batik Pesisir, An Indonesian Heritage, Collection of Hartono Sumarsono’ (2012) Helen Ishwara

‘Batik: From the Courts of Java and Sumatra’ (2014) Rudolf Smend

Catalog ‘Asian art and Dutch taste’ (2014) Jan Veenendaal, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag

Catalog ‘Sarong Kebaya, Peranakan Fashion in an interconnected World, 1500-1950’ (2015), Peter Lee, ACM

Catalog 'A Royal Treasure, the Javanese Batik collection of King Chulalongkorn of Siam' (2019) Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles in Bangkok, Thailand

Catalog ‘Batik, Traces through time, Batik collections in the National Museum’ (2021) Fiona Kerlogue, National Museum, Prague, Czech republic

2) Indo, from Indo-European, is written between brackets in my research title because the influence is not always Indo-European, but more often directly European. To include both, Indo-European and European in my title, I choose to write it as ‘(Indo-)European’

Author

Sabine Bolk, artist & Batik researcher. Blogger for the blog ’The journey to Batik’ and Modemuze. Research Associate at the Research Center for Material Culture in Leiden from 2019-2021. Currently working on new research with the focus on the wearer.