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.
