28.1.08

nDalem Wuryaningratan


In this place, guests can experience Javanese art at its finest, by observing the intricate process of making batik or enjoy traditional Javanese performing arts presented at the beautiful old building having the splendor of traditional Javanese architecture, nDalem Wuryaningratan.

Danar Hadi Batik Museum


PT Batik Danar Hadi proudly presents Danar Hadi Batik Museum established to highlight the city of Surakarta Hadiningrat (Solo) which is renowned as a cultural and touristic city.
Displayed in this museum are antique batiks that were created through the period of time before and during the Dutch and Japanese occupation, till a few decades after Indonesia proclaimed its independence.
Introducing this museum to other regions within Indonesia and other countries is expected to enhance the image of Solo and to increase its economic development.

27.1.08

Batik Belanda



Batik Belanda, literally Dutch Batik was made by Indo – European women, beginning in the middle of the 19th century. This batik showed the Dutch / European influences on Indonesian batik, through the designs and colors.
Batik Belanda always appeared with European flowers and leaves, animals mostly birds and butterflies, using bright colors such as brilliant red, blue, green, pink, orange, beige and even the browns of the principalities batik.
Most of Batik Belanda were sarongs.

Batik Cina



Though the Chinese came to Java earlier than the European, the Chinese culture influence on batik appeared decades after the Dutch batik came into existence and made by the Chinese factories. Two kinds of batik Cina marked the development of this remarkable batik product.
The first is Batik Cina produced before 1910, which usually implemented ornaments taken from Chinese mythology such as Dragon, Phoenix, Lion, Kilin and also Gods and Goddess.
The first colors applied are red and blue, and the batik is called batik Bang Biru (Bang= red, Biru= blue).
The second are Batik Cina made after 1910, knowing that Batik Belanda is the most popular and wanted either by the Dutch community and also by theirs own society, the Chinese began to make batik resembling batiks produced by the Dutch. The designs were similar, but much more intricate, showing different shades of color in the motifs with beautiful fillings in the motifs as well as on the background.
For its market in the principalities batik Tiga Negeri and Dua Negeri also part of this second kind of batik Cina.

Batik Djawa Hokokai


Batik produced during the Japanese occupation is called Batik Djawa Hokokai (1942 – 1945), made in Pekalongan and designed with motifs depicted ornaments of Japanese style flowers with colors and nuances which suit the taste of the Japanese people.
Those flowers were combined with traditional batik motifs such as “Parang”, “Lereng” and “Kawung”. Many bright colors were used for this Djawa Hokokai Batik, so that every batik of this kind always gives a bright and joyful impression.

Batik Indramayu


Batik Indramayu is usually called “Batik Dermayon”, has two kinds of batik, Village Batik and Batik influenced by batik from the court, though Batik court’s influence is only depicted with “Sawat” (= one wing) ornament and diagonal motifs.
Batik Dermayon is marked with colored little dots spread on the background called “Cocohan” and only has two colors (dark blue/black and dark red on a white background), which formerly attamed from plants called Nila and Mengkudu.
There is no stamped batik in Indramayu and the waxing does not belong to the fine one.
Batik Dermayon is made for kain, sarong and selendang, which has always has fringes on each end. The famous village, producing Batik Dermayon is Paoman.

26.1.08

Batik Sembagi


Beside Batik Nitik, Batik Sembagi is another kind of batik reflecting the Indian influence. Its motifs came from “Chintz cloth” or “kain Sembagi”, which were imported from India like the Patola cloth, when textile trade was an important commodity for Indonesia.
These kain Sembagi came from the Coromandel Coast, India and were very much favored by the nobilities, the “Indo Belanda” community, Chinese and well being Javanese. When the trade with the Indian traders declined it was very difficult to find kain Sembagi.
To meet the market demand, people began to make batik using motifs of kain Sembagi, mostly done by batik craftsmen from Lasem and Cirebon, who were mostly Chinese.
These batik is Called “Batik Sembagi”, having the colors of those kain Sembagi which were mostly Mengkudu red and Indigo blue.
Sumatran people were very fond of this cloth specially those from Jambi and Palembang. Batik having the kain Sembagi motif is still being made in Jambi.

Batik Nitik


Batik Nitik is very special. Its design is the imitation of the double ikat woven Patola cloth imported from Gujarat, India (made in the early 19th century) by using batik techniques.
In Pekalongan this batik Nitik is called “Jlamprang”, in Yogyakarta and Surakarta called Nitik.
Jlamprang has the color of most north coastal batik while Nitik reflects the color of court batik, where this design was developed.
The Patola cloth which in Indonesia is called “Cinde” is still being used for ritual and Javanese traditional wedding ceremonies, especially in the court of Surakarta and Yogyakarta.
Batik Nitik is made only for kain.

Batik Jambi


At first batiks which reached Jambi came from those batik centers along Java’s north coast, mainly Cirebon, Lasem and Tuban. The motifs were always geometrical with very restricted colors, dark blue, dark red and colors having yellow tint.
Batik from Jambi depicted ornaments influenced by many cultures, Javanese, Indian, Chinese and Islam. Beside ornaments derived from the Indian Patola, there were also calligraphic designs depicted on selendang (= scarf) and ikat kepala (= head cloth).
Motifs from Palembang hand-woven cloth were sometimes used. Formerly Batik Jambi was always hand drawn batik and some of them are sarongs. But since 1980 Batik Jambi has been produced using the Cap (= Copper stamp) to speed up the production due to the increasing demand. The copper stamp is made to order in Yogyakarta.

Batik Kraton Surakarta





Court batik has been known since 17th century, at the time when canting was invented.
Batik motifs bearing the Hindu – Buddha, old Javanese belief and Islam influence become the characteristics of Javanese court batik.
From the Hindu culture there are the “Garuda”, “Pohon Hayat” (tree of life) and “Lidah api” (fire tongue), from the Buddha came the “Swastika”; the old Javanese belief is reflected by the arrangement of certain motifs following the “Moncopatism”, and Islam is marked by the prohibition of putting real form of human being in the design.
The arrangement of ornaments in its motif always follows certain rules and every ornament symbolizes the philosophical meaning of all those cultural influences.
Batik of the court of Surakarta has reddish brown, dark blue and creamy white, and is made for “Dodot”, kain, kemben (=breast cloth) and ikat kepala (= head cloth).

Batik Kraton Yogyakarta




The characteristics of court batik, generally appear stronger in batiks from the court of Yogyakarta; the form of the motifs follows certain rules, most of them are geometric, the colors are reddish brown or dark brown, dark blue and pure white.
Emerging from the same source, many batik motifs from the court of Yogyakarta resemble those from the court of Surakarta, for instance the Kawung motif, Udan Liris, Semen Romo and Parang Rusak.

Batik Puro Pakualaman


The fusion caused by the environmental influence on batik, created a kind of batik which appeared after the royal marriage between H.R.H. Sri Paku Alam VII of Yogyakarta and the daughter of H.R.H. Sri Susuhunan Paku Buwono X, the King of Surakarta.
Some batik motifs of Puro Pakualaman resemble those of Kraton Yogyakarta and some look like batiks from Kraton Surakarta.
The influence of Kraton Surakarta however is much stronger, which reflected by the colors of batik Puro Pakualaman, which are yellowish brown, blue and cream.
A famous batik motif called “Paksi Manyuro” was created by one the nobilities of Puro Pakualaman.

Batik Puro Mangkunegaran




Batik from the court of Mangkunegaran has the colors and motifs similar to those of Kraton Surakarta. Its appearance however is matching and beautiful, because always depicts very fine and intricate “isen latar” (= background filling) and isen motif (= motif filling).
Besides Puro Mangkunegaran owns many potential batik artists. “The Pakis” and “Sarpo” motifs are very famous motifs created by artists of Puro Mangkunegaran.

Batik Danar Hadi




A brilliant result of a hard work, either regarded from the aspect of the ability in creating designs, the success in its field, care and the will of preserving the art of batik or the impacts on the lives of the people involved, is not something that exists without struggle, diligence and sincerity.
In the middle of changes of times and environments, Batik Danar Hadi is always aimed to be able to survive within the turbulence of the batik trade.
The struggle, diligence and sincerity, beginning from three generations before, had resulted in works that worth of being recorded in the history of batik development in Indonesia.
Activities, concerning researches and developments, since this factory was a small scale industry until at last became a big batik industry, have been carried on from generation to generation. All kinds of batik created, developed under the influence of so many culture and environments become the main references of Danar Hadi`s Batik.
From the time when natural dyes were the only dyes available until the time when chemical dyes entered the world of batik, Batik Danar Hadi has been the only kind of batik which always appears with motifs and colors preferred by the Indonesian community.
Batik with the isen tanahan (background filling) and isen motif (motif filling) which are so fine and intricate, are part of the special character of Danar Hadi`s batik, beside the various creation of its motifs as the result of its capability in combining court batiks, so that court batiks made by Danar Hadi are always different than court batiks known before.
The processes applied always cover all kinds of batik processes.

The Flow Chart of The Traditional Process


NGANJI
Starching the cloth after the cloth has been washed


NGEMPLONG
Smoothing the surface of the cloth by beating it with a wooden hammer


NGLOWONG
Covering the parts which shall be dyed brown (first waxing). Done on both sides, using a canting or a stamp.


NEMBOK
Applying wax to the parts which shall remain white (second waxing). Done on both sides, using a canting or a stamp.


MEDEL
Dipping the waxed cloth in a blue dyebath (first dyeing).


NGEROK
Removing the first wax by scraping it with a piece of thin metal (partial wax removal).


MBIRONI
Covering the parts which shall remain blue. Done on both sides, usually using a canting (third waxing).


NYOGA
Coloring the scraped parts with a brown dye (second dyeing).


NGLOROD
Removing all the remaining wax in boiling water (complete wax removal).

Batik Madura


Batik from Java’s north coast strongly influenced the work of batik craftsmen of the isle of Madura, either on its motifs or colors, though the color taste of the Madurese, which is dark red, still dominates the appearance of Batik Madura. Ornaments taken from sea creatures, reflects their profession as fishermen, flowers and birds which mark the influence of north coastal batik always exist in Batik Madura.
The influence of the court is also seen, which tell that the Mataram Kingdom once had its power to this area. Batik Madura is made for kain, sarong and selendang.

Batik Banyumas


Banyumas has two kinds of batik, Batik Petani or Batik Pedesaan (= Village batik) and batik influenced by the batik from the principalities. Batik Petani has leaves and bouquets for its ornaments with background fillings of Batik Kraton as its main motifs, developed according to the taste of the local community and called “Batik Banyumasan”.
The soga color of Batik Banyumasan is between the soga colour of Surakarta and Yogyakarta, which is reddish yellowish brown, and its white parts look a little bit yellowish.
Batik Banyumasan is made for kain and kemben (= breast cloth).

Batik Cirebon


Batik Cirebon is marked with the existence of ornaments called “Mega” (=cloud) and “Wadasan” (= rock), showing the influence of Chinese culture on the court of Cirebon; that is why batik from this court always depicted such ornaments.
Beside the Chinese influence, motifs having wing ornaments show the influence of Hindu culture from the Mataram Kingdom. The most interesting thing about Batik Cirebon is its court design called “Paksi Naga Liman” (Paksi= bird, Naga= dragon, Liman= elephant) which depicts three cultures simultaneously, symbolizing a peaceful cooperation among these cultures, Islam, China/Buddha and Hindu, that live in harmony in the Cirebon area.
Other identifying marks of Batik Cirebon is the various shade of one color in its main ornaments and the ivory yellow color of the background or light yellow called the Cirebon yellow.
As its traditional color, there are soga brown, light blue and dark blue or black.

Batik Garut


Batik Garut is marked with its soft yellow colour called “Gumading” for its main ornaments and background. This batik called “Garutan”, like Batik Cirebon, shows many cultural and environmental influences.
Beside the cultural influences from the Chinese community and the Dutch, this batik also has a strong influence from the culture of the Surakarta – Yogyakarta Kingdom.
The “Megamendung”, “Balabag” and “Arjuna Menekung” shows the influence of the court of Cirebon, while the “Banji” and “Buketan” came from the Chinese and the Dutch.
The soga colour of batik Garutan is reddish with a little bit of brown.
Batik Garut is made for kain, sarong and head cloth.

Batik Sudagaran Surakarta


The use of court batik ornaments which was changed according to the taste of batik merchants/batik retailer/batik factory owners at that time become the mark of this special batik. The quality of the waxing became finer than the court batik since this people owned more highly skilled labor engaging in the waxing process, who usually lived inside the factories.
Batik Sudagaran was made when the need of batik inside the court increased, and it was impossible that batik was made only by the people inside the court. For this purpose same factories with high quality batik were called upon to do the job.
Batik Sudagaran of Surakarta has the same colors as its court batik; however other colors may also appear in Batik Sudagaran specially made for the haji’s families (green and violet). Batik Sudagaran is made for kain, sarong and selendang.

Batik Sudagaran Yogyakarta


The Batik Merchants/batik factory owners/batik retailer made batik according to their tastes, using the court motifs as the main ornaments combined with other ornaments or other batik motifs, such as the Parang motif with paisleys filled with ”Nitik” or other motifs.
The waxing is always superior, fine and very intricate, with colors such as colors of the court batik. Though Batik Sudagaran from Yogyakarta is extraordinary, it does not match the same kind of batik made in Surakarta.

Batik Petani


Batik Petani is batik made by peasants or villagers. This batik shows the environmental
influence. Having stuck with the source, which is the traditional court motifs, this batik implements ornaments taken from nature, beautiful small plants, butterflies and little birds on backgrounds with batik fillings such as Ukel, Gringsing (fish scales), Galaran (wavy lines) and Blanggreng (Triangles) and court motifs such as Udan Liris (small rain), Limaran and Lereng Gebyar.
These become the characteristic of Batik Petani either from Yogyakarta (= also called Batik Rinen) or Surakarta. The colors of Batik Petani are dark blue, dark brown (in Surakarta a little
bit yellowish) and white/cream.
Batik Petani is made for kain, sarong and selendang, mainly used for carrying things.

Batik Tuban


The most famous village batik or Batik Petani is made in a village called “Kerek” near the city of Tuban, east Java. The whole process of making a piece of batik beginning with planting the cotton and ending with removing the wax as the last step of batik making is done in this area.
The motifs are very much influenced by Chinese culture and their traditional colors are dark blue and red, which formerly attained from vegetable dyes taken from the root of “Mengkudu” tree (= red) and the leaves of “Indigo” tree (= blue).
Batik Tuban is made for kain and selendang.

Batik Indonesia





Combining batik ornaments of the principalities with the north coast batik techniques which applies varieties of colors created Batik Indonesia which came into existence in 1950.
This was the idea of Indonesia’s first president Ir. Soekarno and executed by Indonesian batik artist who really understood Bung Karno’s will to create batiks which really are able to depict batik having a soul of unity, unifying those two styles of batik which means that batik belongs to every Indonesian.
Further development of this Batik Indonesia emerged batik which put together the color of batik from the principalities with naturalistic ornaments using the cracking techniques called Batik Wonogiren. The famous motifs of this sort of batik are Api Revolusi (Revolution Fire), Cattleya, Seruni (Chrysanthemum), Pring Sedapur, Sandang Pangan and so on.
Batik Indonesia is produced for kain, sarong and selendang.

Batik Wonogiren


Batik Wonogiren is a kind of batik which applies cracking technique with Soga color on its white background, having naturalistic motif.
This batik was first made around 1966 in Solo. The outstanding Batik Wonogiren motifs are Sruni, Api Revolusi, Cattleya and Pring Sedapur.
Further Development of this batik, besides applying naturalistic design, many traditional motifs are made using this technique.

Batik Kontemporer


Batik which is very responsive to absorb any kind of art forms, obviously can bring another kind of batik having motifs originated not from batik motifs but from forms brought by the painter’s inspiration.
This kind of “batik” actually cannot be called batik since the process of their production is quite different from those of the real batik.
It is much more a painting than batik that is why it is called batik painting, a painting made by applying batik technique.
In its further development, some artists depicted the isen batik (batik filling), and even traditional batik motifs decorated with gold leaf beside some scratches of a painting. These works are called Contemporary Batik (Batik Kontemporer). Up to this moment they are still being made by batik artists mostly from Yogyakarta, who live near the Water Castle, near the Bird Market and Prawirotaman street.
Famous names in this field are Soemihardjo, Bambang Oetoro, Amri Yahya, Bagong Koessoedihardjo, Tulus Warsito and SP. Gustami.

Batik Workshop


In this place, guests can experience Javanese art at its finest, by observing the intricate process of making batik.

Special collections


Design: Little Red Riding Hood
Region: Pekalongan
Dye matter: Natural
Batik Type: Batik Belanda, Metzellar


Design: Mega Mendung
Design Family: Cirebonan
Region: Kraton Cirebon
Dye Matter: Synthetic
Batik Type: Court


Design: Kapal Api
Design Family: Dutch-Influenced
Region: Kraton Yogyakarta
Dye Matter: Natural
Batik Type: Court