Batik
Batik (
/ˈbætɪk/ or
/bəˈtiːk/;
Javanese pronunciation: [ˈbateʔ];
Indonesian: [ˈbatɪk]) is a cloth that is traditionally made using a manual
wax-resist dyeing technique.
Javanese traditional batik, especially from
Yogyakarta and
Surakarta, has notable meanings rooted to the Javanese conceptualization of the universe. Traditional colours include
indigo, dark brown, and white, which represent the three major
Hindu Gods
(Brahmā, Vishnu, and Śiva). This is related to the fact that natural
dyes are most commonly available in indigo and brown. Certain patterns
can only be worn by nobility; traditionally, wider stripes or wavy lines
of greater width indicated higher rank. Consequently, during Javanese
ceremonies, one could determine the royal lineage of a person by the
cloth he or she was wearing.
Other regions of Indonesia have their own unique patterns that
normally take themes from everyday lives, incorporating patterns such as
flowers, nature, animals, folklore or people. The colours of
pesisir
batik, from the coastal cities of northern Java, is especially vibrant,
and it absorbs influence from the Javanese, Arab, Chinese and Dutch
cultures. In the colonial times pesisir batik was a favourite of the
Peranakan Chinese, Dutch and
Eurasians.
[citation needed]
UNESCO designated Indonesian batik as a
Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity on October 2, 2009. As part of the acknowledgment, UNESCO insisted that Indonesia preserve their heritage.
Although the word's origin is
Javanese, its etymology may be either from the Javanese
amba ('to write') and
titik ('dot' or 'point'), or constructed from a hypothetical
Proto-Austronesian root
*beCík, meaning 'to tattoo' from the use of a needle in the process. The word is first recorded in English in the
Encyclopædia Britannica of 1880, in which it is spelled
battik. It is attested in the Indonesian Archipelago during the Dutch colonial period in various forms:
mbatek,
mbatik,
batek and
batik.
Wax resist dyeing technique in fabric is an ancient art form.
Discoveries show it already existed in Egypt in the 4th century BCE,
where it was used to wrap mummies; linen was soaked in wax, and
scratched using a sharp tool. In Asia, the technique was practiced in
China during the
T'ang dynasty (618-907 CE), and in India and Japan during the
Nara period (645-794 CE). In Africa it was originally practiced by the
Yoruba tribe in Nigeria,
Soninke and
Wolof in Senegal.
In
Java,
Indonesia,
batik predates written records. G. P. Rouffaer argues that the
technique might have been introduced during the 6th or 7th century from
India or Sri Lanka.
[5]
On the other hand, JLA. Brandes (a Dutch archeologist) and F.A.
Sutjipto (an Indonesian archeologist) believe Indonesian batik is a
native tradition, regions such as
Toraja,
Flores,
Halmahera, and
Papua, which were not directly influenced by Hinduism and have an old age tradition of batik making.
Rouffaer also reported that the
gringsing pattern was already known by the 12th century in
Kediri,
East Java. He concluded that such a delicate pattern could only be created by means of the
canting (also spelled
tjanting or
tjunting;
pronounced [ˌtʃanˈtiŋ])
tool. This is like a pen that holds a small reservoir of hot wax. He
proposed that the canting was invented in Java around that time.
The carving details of clothes wore by Prajnaparamita,
the statue of buddhist goddess of transcendental wisdom from East Java
circa 13th century CE. The clothes details shows intricate floral
pattern similar to today traditional Javanese batik. This suggested
intricate batik fabric pattern applied by
canting already existed in 13th century Java or even earlier.
In Europe, the technique is described for the first time in the
History of Java, published in London in 1817 by Sir Thomas
Stamford Raffles who had been a British governor for the island. In 1873 the Dutch merchant
Van Rijckevorsel gave the pieces he collected during a trip to Indonesia to the ethnographic museum in Rotterdam. Today
Tropenmuseum houses the biggest collection of Indonesian batik in the
Netherlands.
The Dutch were active in developing batik in the colonial era, they
introduced new innovations and prints. And it was indeed starting from
the early 19th century that the art of batik really grew finer and
reached its golden period. Exposed to the
Exposition Universelle at Paris in 1900, the Indonesian batik impressed the public and the artisans. After the independence of Indonesia and the decline of the Dutch textile industry, the Dutch batik production was lost. The
Gemeentemuseum,
Den Haag contains artifacts from that era.
Due to globalization and industrialization, which introduced automated techniques, new breeds of batik, known as batik cap (
[ˈtʃap]) and batik print emerged, and the traditional batik, which incorporates the hand written
wax-resist dyeing technique is known now as batik tulis (lit: 'Written Batik').
At the same time, according to the
Museum of Cultural History
of Oslo, Indonesian immigrants to Malaysia brought the art with them.
As late as the 1920s Javanese batik makers introduced the use of wax and
copper blocks on Malaysia's east coast. The production of hand drawn
batik in Malaysia is of recent date and is related to the Javanese batik
tulis.
In Sub Sahara Africa, Javanese batik was introduced in the 19th century
by Dutch and English traders. The local people there adapted the
Javanese batik, making larger motifs, thicker lines and more colors. In
the 1970s, batik was introduced to the aboriginal community in
Australia, the aboriginal community at Erna bella and Utopia now develop
it as their own craft.
