Asian Textiles: Textiles of Indonesia
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Waist Cloth (Sarong) with Flowers, Trees, Birds, and Animals (detail)
Pekalongan, Java, Indonesia,19th centuryAsian Gallery (Toyokan) Room 13
August 5, 2025 (Tue) - November 3, 2025 (Mon)This gallery currently features the many striking textile techniques of the islands of Indonesia, with special emphasis on batik, a wax-resist dying technique. There are two techniques to make batik cloth. One is to draw patterns of beeswax lines directly on cotton cloth using a tool called a canting. The other is to stamp repeating patterns onto cotton cloth using a beeswax-coated copper stamp called a cap. Once the designs are marked in beeswax, the cloth is dipped in indigo blue, madder red, or sogan brown dye and only the wax-covered portions remain white. In addition to batik cloths, this gallery is also displaying Indonesian textiles for use in celebratory ceremonies featuring warp ikat, glittering songket (supplementary weft patterning in metallic threads), and brocade.
| Designation | Name | Creation/ Excavation/ Provenance |
Period | Acquisition/ Ownership/ Accession Number |
CMT | ||
| Highlight | Waist Cloth (Sarong) with Flowers, Trees, Birds, and Animals | Pekalongan, Java, Indonesia | 19th century | TI-251 | |||
| Waist Cloth (Sarong) with Birds and Animals | Pekalongan, Java, Indonesia | Start of the 20th century | TI-349-6 | ||||
| Highlight | Waist Cloth ("Kain Panjang") with Flowering Plants and Figures | Cirebon, Java, Indonesia | Start of the 20th century | TI-349-14 | |||
| Highlight | Shoulder Cloth ("Hinggi Kombu") with Trees, Prawns, and Birds | Sumba, Indonesia | First half of the 20th century | TI-148 |