Like a good wine, batik improves with age. It becomes soft and smooth. There are thought to be over 3,000 batik patterns.

Batik is regarded by the Javanese as one of the 5 halus or elite arts, along with wayang kulit (shadow puppets), gamelan music, lakon (the myths dramatized in wayang kulit), tempongs (classical poetry), and joged (classical court dance).

There are many waxings and dyeings and other treatments in order to make a batik. The great centres are in Central Java and North Java.

Central Java has three colours, whereas North Java is multi-coloured.

In Central Java, Yogyakarta batiks are distinguished by their strong dark brown, blue and white designs. Brown symbolizes the earth, blue symbolizes heaven, both placed on the white of the air.

Solo or Surakarta, also in Central Java, has brown, blue and cream. Around 1900 synthetic dyes were imported to Java from Germany. The colours are harsher than vegetable dyes. This is because the colours are equal in strength.

Vegetable dyes show a graduation of colour nuances.

There are two classic vegetable dyes: indigo (blue) and soga (brown).

Indigo comes from the leaves of the Indigofera plant. The soga brown comes from the bark of the jambal tree. Its range is from yellow to deep rich brown and is indigenous to Central Java.

Vegetable dyes are prized and sought after by  batik connoisseurs, the upper classes, collectors and the wealthy.

Some families in Java keep their natural dyes extremely secret.

UNESCO recognized batik as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity on 2 October 2009.

There is a chapter on batik in From Tattoos to Textiles, Murni’s Guide to Asian Textiles, All You Need to Know … And More.

This is a dodot, now rarely seen, which is a voluminous, ceremonial batik wrap, and a prerogative of royalty. Dodots are usually only worn by the sultan, the bride or groom, or dancers at the courts. They are usually of the very best quality and the large size indicates the person’s high rank.

It can be worn in a variety of shapes, reflecting the wearer’s status, usually draped and folded as an underskirt, sometimes with a train of fabric hanging down at one side, the length to which it falls down also depending on the wearer’s status (if it’s the sultan, it would sweep along the floor, but for the couriers it would not touch the ground).

Silk trousers are often worn underneath, with the pattern of the trousers showing in the front. They are decorated with patterns likely to be reserved for members of the noble family, possibly with magical, protective qualities.

Early – mid 20th century.

Old Central Javanese Batik Dodot about 1870. Sultan Hamengkubuwono VI from Yogyakarta (1855-1877). Photograph in the Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam.

Map of Java.

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