The Danar Hadi Collection

The Danar Hadi Collection

preface by

H. Santosa Doellah

text by
Judi Achjadi

PROJECT ADVISORS
H. Santosa Doellah & Danarsih Santosa Doellah
EDITOR AND AUTHOR
Judi Achjadi
CONTRIBUTOR
Helly Minarti
EDITORIAL CONSULTANT
Joop Av
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Rafli L. Sato
PROJECT TREASURY
Mariam Kartonagoro
MUSEUM RESOURCES
Toetti T. Soerjanto
Asti Suryo Astuti
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Ridha N. Kusumabrata
Ibham Jasin
PRODUCTION & LAYOUT
Ari Widjanarko
Samsuri
Ardian Fajri
Published in 2011 by
PT. BATIK DANAR HADI
Jl. Dr. Rajiman 164, Solo 57151
Central Java
Tel. +62 271 644 125
Fax. +62 271 634 876
www.danarhadibatik.com

Acknowledgments
Many people have been involved in the making of this book.
First of all we would like to express our appreciation to:
Diana Kusuma Dewati Santosa and all levels of management at Batik
Danar Hadi, Mrs. Mariam Kartonagoro, Museum Batik Danar Hadi,
Mrs. Toetti T. Soerjanto, Asti Suryo Astuti and Aryo Prakoso Vidyarto.
Our very special gratitude goes to the lenders of images, old
photographs, and historical pictures which we were able to secure only
with the help of: Roger Tol of KITLV Jakarta for the Royal Netherlands
Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (Koninklijk Instituut
voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde Netherlands Leiden),

and to Carmanita for the special image on page 64 (above left), and to
the Danar Hadi archives and Eddy Asa. Many other skilled and able
people and institutions lent to the success were involved in the making
of this book by providing valuable information including: Asmoro
Damais & Soedarmadji Damais, Sjamsidar Isa and KOMPAS archives.
To all above, as well as to those who are not mentioned, the publisher
would like to take this opportunity to express sincere gratitude. Every
effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information in
this book at the time of going to press. The Publisher cannot be held
responsible for any inaccuracies or omissions. Readers are advised
to call the various institutions, if appropriate, to verify details.

Distributed by:
Copyright 2010
DANAR HADI
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced
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First Edition, 2011
Printed and bound in Indonesia
ISBN 978-602-98697-0-5

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Contents
6

Preface by
H. Santosa Doellah
10

Chapter 1

Danar Hadi
50

Chapter 2

the Collection
Court Batik ~ 66

Sudagaran Batik ~ 128

Coastal Batik ~ 156
Regional Style ~ 258
Nationalizing Batik ~ 292
322

Appendices
Bibliography
Index
Photo Credits

t h e G lo r y o f B a t i k

Preface

th e G lo r y o f B a t ik

by H. Santosa Doellah

I am eternally indebted to batik. Batik is the single denominator that connects me

to the past, present, and future. My grandmother introduced me to batik, the woman I
married shared my passion and collaborated with me in the founding of our batik house,
and now I am passing on the love of batik to my offspring.
In many ways, batik has surrounded my life and thus defined my existence. So,
here I am, feeling tremendously privileged to be able to present this book as a way of
expressing my lifelong, life-affirming passion for batik. As the title suggests, the intention
is to celebrate the glory of batik which I am certain is how many people feel about this
marvellous cloth, among them my colleagues at Batik Danar Hadi.
What I am presenting here depicts only a fraction of the beauty of batik, around 300
cloths carefully selected to represent the best of the collection of an estimated 10,000
pieces. Put together in a particular order, they narrate the story of batik in Indonesia of
many periods. It is a cultural journey of an art form that is deeply embedded in the lives
of many fellow Indonesians.
This collection has accompanied me on my own journey and will to the end. It is my
hope that you will be inspired as much as I have been all these years by these many
pieces of batik!

OPPOSITE: H. Santosa Doellah and his beautiful wife, Danarsih Hadiprijono, discuss batik over afternoon tea
in their magnificent residence in Solo, Central Java.

FOLLOWING PAGE:
Rectangular cloth, kain panjang
Surakarta
Pattern: Parang seling by Danar Hadi
Cotton; wax-drawn by hand
246 x 103 cm.
Danar Hadi produces batik based on old designs and
mixed styles. In this example, a diagonal court pattern from
Surakarta is combined with a floral motif inspired by the
European-influenced batik of the court of the Mangkunegara.

12

Da n a r H a d i

Introduction

atik is a technique used for decorating woven cloth with colored patterns; it
is also the cloth decorated in this way. Long before the archipelago became
known as Indonesia, the batik of Java was a much-admired fabric in Europe,

Japan, and mixed-Chinese communities in coastal southeastern Asia. It served as the

inspiration for the batik tradition in Malaysia and also the contemporary traditions that
developed in France, the Netherlands, Poland, and Germany after the World Expositions
in Europe at the turn of the 20th century, a time when collections began entering European

museums. Extolled by admirers all over the world, Javanese batik has been glorified by
Indonesians as a national icon and a fixed part of the national identity.
Despite collections of batik in museums throughout the world dating back to the mid19th century, the finest examples are still to be found in private and public collections in
Indonesia. This is especially true of pieces inherited from mothers and grandmothers,
for it is the women who have been the most involved with the making and wearing of
batik through the centuries. The role of men has traditionally been as designers and
managers-cum-merchants, until the wax-printing stamp was introduced in the mid-19th
century and chemical dyes at the end of the 19th century. No longer were dye recipes the
secret preserve of women, although their delicate handwork continued to be essential

OPPOSITE: Today, batik is being made in industrial environments, including the hand-waxed type. Several
women sit on a low stool around a pan of molten wax that they share. Each silently concentrates on her own
work for a time, and then takes time out to chat with her friends before going back to work. The women are
generally paid by finished piece and not a daily wage. The Danar Hadi workshop, Solo.

Da n a r H a d i

13

by Judi Achjadi and Helly Minarti

for hand-waxing. What was deemed heavy work became the domain of men: handling
heavy waxing stamps, dealing with heavy bundles of cloth in the dye vats, organizing
large stables of batik workers.
One very important batik collection in Indonesia began with inheritance, the Danar Hadi
batik collection in Solo, Central Java. Danar Hadi is a batik enterprise whose owners came
from families who were involved either in the supply of raw materials or the making of batik.
From simple beginnings in the late 1960s, the business grew to Indonesias most prolific
batik industry today, producing not only real batik (patterned through the use of manually
applied wax to resist dye) but also textiles mechanically printed with batik patterns. Today,
it is Indonesias top batik business and the only one owned by Javanese.
The city of Solo, home of the Susuhunan of Surakarta, whose forefathers were once
termed Emperor of Java, is the unchallenged center of batik-making in Indonesia. Hence,
it is now known as City of Batik, a tagline that is now formally attached to the citys
ABOVE: A batik worker, perhaps of Arab or Gujarati descent,
stamps wax on to cloth. The stamp, canting cap, was
introduced in the mid-19th century to speed up the waxing
process to keep production numbers up in line with the growing demand for batik. Examples of stamp-waxed batik are to
be seen on the wall. Stamp-waxing batik is mens work.

formal identity, as the visitor immediately notices from banners and posters at the airport.
Batik-making and batik-wearing are inextricably embedded in the citys lifestyle, as the
first-time tourist can easily see.
Alighting from the airplane, one is usually welcomed by someone clad in batik shirt or
dress. Walking through the lounge, one cannot help glancing at window displays showing

14

Da n a r H a d i

off the finest of the stores merchandise. Batik adorns not only people, but also the
interiors of offices, grand hotels, and even humble dwellings, in the form of wall hangings,
tablecloths, and cushion covers.
BELOW: Princes and high officials wearing formal dress relax over tea after a reception at the Netherlands-Indies governors residence in Yogyakarta in the 1930s. Each one wears a batikked skirt-cloth, patola trousers,
and gold-embroidered velvet jackets in accordance to his status.

LEFT:
Rectangular cloth, kain panjang
Surakarta
Pattern: Parang peniti
tumaruntun by Danar Hadi
Cotton; wax-drawn by hand
245 x 102 cm.

LEFT:
Left: Rectangular cloth, kain
panjang
Surakarta
Pattern: Parang barong seling
gandasuli by Danar Hadi
Cotton; wax-drawn by hand
244 x 103 cm.
Bands of gently undulating,
creamy parang barong (barong
= large) have been alternated
with dark-hued bands of the
gandasuli, a sweet-smelling
flower represented by tiny white
blossoms and spiky leaflets.

Da n a r H a d i

LEFT:
Rectangular cloth, kain panjang
Surakarta
Pattern: Parang sondher glebag
by Danar Hadi
Cotton; wax-drawn by hand
246 x 104 cm.

Glebag indicates alternate rows
of patterning, often the parang
alternated with a non-parang
pattern arranged in parallel
diagonal bands. In this case,
the second pattern consists of
pairs of fluttering butterflies,
while the parang is made up of
a gracefully rendered leaf.

15

Tumaruntun refers to descending

order, or in this case size:
11different widths of the parang
peniti are arranged in descending
and ascending order, from the
narrowest to the widest. This
appears to be a fairly recent trend
in parang patterning.

LEFT:
Rectangular cloth, kain panjang
Surakarta
Pattern: Tambal pamiluto by Danar Hadi
Cotton; wax-drawn by hand
243 x 103 cm.

16

Da n a r H a d i

Tambal means patch; the pattern has the appearance

of a patchwork. It is made up of equal-sized rectangles,
each partitioned diagonally into two quadrilateral figures of
equal size. Arranged in diagonal rows, the top half of each
rectangle is filled with a geometric pattern and the bottom
half with a floral pattern. All diagonal lines slope in the same
direction, so that there is a streaked effect created by the
lighter-hued portions of the patterns.

LEFT:
Rectangular cloth, kain panjang
Surakarta
Pattern: Sekar jagad by Danar Hadi
Cotton; wax-drawn by hand
249 x 103 cm.
Sekar jagad translates as flower of the universe, which
accounts for the domination of floral motifs or sekar in this
rendition of a very popular pattern. It is believed that the
word sekar in this pattern name began as kaart, locally
pronounced kar, which means map, in which case the
name was translated as map of the universe, but through
generations of non-Dutch speakers degenerated into kar
which was assumed to derive from sekar, flower.

A ride downtown reveals more batik stores, with the Klewer market a mecca for
those patient and curious enough to rummage through huge piles of batik, from printed
imitations to real handmade batik. The section of the town known as Laweyan is filled
with batik workshops; it is the place where many of the batik enterprises started off as
family home-industries, imbuing the area with a special character that does not appear to
have changed much in decades. More small batik workshops are to be found in villages
surrounding Surakarta, catering not only to domestic but also to international markets,
such as South Africa.
Life in contemporary Solo appears to beat to the rhythm of its recent past. It is a city
pulsating with the paradox of two very different worlds, a serene and highly refined royal
court tradition and a dynamic, modern enterpreneurship. In between, batik is often found
feeding the refinement of the former and the exuberance of the latter. A much newer facet
of life is the effort to put Solo on the national cultural map. Competing with the reputation
of the neighboring province of Yogyakarta, a Sultanate, as a much more popular tourist
destination and cultural hub, Solo has been busy at work improving its infrastructure.
One outstanding result is the newly rebuilt airport, arguably the best in Central Java,
including Yogyakarta. It has also developed a cultural calendar of events that range from
an International Music Festival to a Batik Carnival. The signs of early cosmopolitan life
are getting stronger: more starred hotels, new and arty budget hotels, and large shopping

LEFT:
Rectangular cloth, kain panjang
Surakarta
Pattern: Sari ngrembaka by Danar Hadi
Cotton; wax-drawn by hand
246 x 104 cm.
The original sari ngrembaka was created by the courtdancer-cum-batik-artist Nyai Bei Mardusari of the Court of
the Mangkunegara in Solo. Nyai Bei claimed to have been
inspired by the European cornucopia, which seeped into
Javanese art (and especially batik) at the end of the 19th
century. Copying antique patterns is an old practice that has
resulted in their perpetuation. Whereas the original consisted
of two bands of the same motif on different backgrounds,
this version by Danar Hadi has replaced one row with a
handsome meander of Art Nouveau/Jugendstil origin and
added light blue to the color scheme.

Da n a r H a d i

17

malls. And everywhere Solos special kind of batik is in evidence.