Batik
Batik is a dyeing technique using wax resist. The term is also used to describe patterned textiles created with that technique. Batik is made by drawing or stamping wax on a cloth to prevent colour absorption during the dyeing process. This creates a patterned negative when the wax is removed from the dyed cloth. Artisans may create intricate coloured patterns with multiple cycles of wax application and dyeing. Patterns and motifs vary widely even within countries. Some patterns hold symbolic significance and are used only in certain occasions, while others were created to satisfy market demand and fashion trends.
Resist dyeing using wax has been practised since ancient times, and it is attested in several world cultures, such as Egypt, southern China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria, and Sri Lanka. The technique developed in Indonesia is among the most sophisticated, although its antiquity is difficult to determine. It first became widely known outside of Southeast Asia when it was described in the 1817 History of Java, leading to significant collecting efforts and scholarly studies of the tradition and crafts. Javanese batik was subject to several innovations in the 19th to early-20th centuries, such as the use of stamp printing of wax to increase productivity. Many workshops and artisans are active today, creating a wide range of products and influencing other textile traditions and artists.
Etymology
The English word batik is borrowed from Javanese bathik. English dictionaries tend to define batik as a general dyeing technique, meaning that cloths with similar methods of production but culturally unrelated to Javanese batik may be labelled as batik in English. Robert Blust traces the Javanese word as a reflex of Proto-Austronesian *batik and its doublet *beCik which means decorations and patterns in general. In Java, the word is only attested in sources post dating the Hindu–Buddhist period, from the 16th century onward. Outside of Java, the word first appears in a 1641 merchant ship's bill of lading as batick. The term and technique came to wider public notice beyond Southeast Asia following Thomas Stamford Raffles's description of batik process in his 1817 book The History of Java. Colonial era Dutch sources record the word in various spellings, such as mbatik, mbatek, batik, and batek.History
Ancient to early modern periods
Batik-like resist dyeing is an ancient art form. It existed in Egypt in the 4th century BC, where it was used to wrap mummies; linen was soaked in wax, and scratched using a stylus. It continued to be used to the medieval Byzantine era, although surviving pieces are rare. In Asia, the technique is attested in India, the Tang dynasty in China, and the Nara Period in Japan. In Africa it was practiced by the Yoruba people of Nigeria, as well as by the Soninke and Wolof of Senegal.File:Prajnaparamita clothes detail.JPG|thumb|Clothing detail of 13th-century East Javanese Prajnaparamita statue, National Museum of Indonesia, Jakarta
The art of batik is highly developed on the island of Java, Indonesia, although the antiquity of the technique is difficult to determine since batik pieces rarely survive long in the region's tropical climate. The Dutch historians G. G. Rouffaer & H. H. Juynboll argue that the technique might have been introduced during the 6th or 7th century from India or Sri Lanka. The similarities between some traditional batik patterns with clothing details in ancient Hindu-Buddhist statuaries, for example East Javanese Prajnaparamita, has made some authors attribute batik's creation to Java's Hindu-Buddhist period. Some scholars cautioned that mere similarity of pattern is not conclusive of batik, as it could be made by other non-related techniques. Since the word "batik" is not attested in any pre-Islamic sources, some scholars have taken the view that batik only developed at the end of Java's Hindu-Buddhist period, from the 16th century onward following the demise of Majapahit kingdom. However, this view has not taken into account the oldest surviving physical Javanese batik piece, which was only identified in 2022. It is a blue-white valance carbon dated to the 13th or 14th century, which correspond to early Majapahit period. The batik's quality and dating suggest that sophisticated batik techniques already existed at the time, but competed with the more established ikat textiles.
Batik craft further flourished in the Islamic courts of Java in the following centuries. The development of prominent batik types was partly motivated by the desire to replicate prestigious foreign textiles brought in by the Indian Ocean maritime trade. When the Dutch East Indies Company began to impose their monopolistic trade practice in 17th century Indonesia, batik cloths was one of the product which stifled their textile sales. Dutch imports of chintz from the Coromandel coast could not compete with locally made batik due to their robust production and high quality.
Modern period
Batik technique became more widely known when the Javanese version was described in The History of Java, starting the collecting and scholarly interest in batik traditions. In 1873 the Dutch merchant Elie Van Rijckevorsel gave the pieces he collected during a trip to Indonesia to the ethnographic museum in Rotterdam. Examples were displayed at Paris's Exposition Universelle in 1900. Today the Tropenmuseum houses the biggest collection of Indonesian batik in the Netherlands.In the 19th to early 20th century, Dutch Indo–Europeans and Chinese settlers were actively involved in the production and development of Javanese batik, particularly pesisir "coastal" style batik in the northern coast of Java. Scholars such as J.E. Jasper and Mas Pirngadie published books extensively documenting existing batik patterns. These in turn were used by Dutch and Chinese artisans to develop new patterns which blended several cultural influences, and who also introduced innovations such as cap to mass-produce batiks and synthetic dyes which allow brighter colours. Several prominent batik ateliers appeared, such as Eliza van Zuylen and Oey Soe Tjoen, and their products catered to a wide audience in the Malay archipelago. Batik skirts and sarongs for example were widely worn by indigenous, Chinese, and European women of the region, paired with the ubiquitous kebaya shirt. Batik was also used for more specialized applications, such as peranakan altar cloth called tok wi.
It is in this time period as well that the Javanese batik production spread overseas. In Subsaharan Africa, Javanese batik was introduced in the 19th century by Dutch and English merchants. It was subsequently modified by local artisans with larger motifs, thicker lines, and more colours into what is now known as African wax prints. Modern West African versions also use cassava starch, rice paste, or mud as a resist. In the 1920s, Javanese batik makers migrating to the eastern coast of Malay Peninsula introduced batik production using stamp blocks.
Many traditional ateliers in Java collapsed immediately following the Second World War and Indonesian wars of independence, but many workshops and artisans are still active today creating a wide range of products. They still continue to influence a number of textile traditions and artists. In the 1970s for example, batik was introduced to Australia, where aboriginal artists at Ernabella have developed it as their own craft. The works of the English artist Thetis Blacker were influenced by Indonesian batik; she had worked in Yogyakarta's Batik Research Institute and had travelled in Bali.
Techniques
Production begins by washing the base cloth, soaking it, and beating it with a large mallet. Patterns are sketched with pencil and redrawn using hot wax, usually made from a mixture of paraffin or beeswax, sometimes mixed with plant resins. The wax functions as a dye-resist which prevent colour absorption during the dyeing process. This creates a patterned negative when the wax is removed from the dyed cloth. Using this mechanism, artisans may create intricate coloured patterns with multiple cycles of wax application and dyeing.The wax can be applied with a variety of tools, including writing with a pen-like canting tool, printing with a cap, or painting with a brush. The canting is the most basic and traditional tool, creating what is known as "written batik". It allows the creation of very fine, minute patterns but the process is very labour-intensive. Stamped batik allows more efficient production for larger quantities at the expense of detail.