International Textiles Collection

The International Textile Collection at the University of Leeds includes textiles from all over the world, including a wide range of Indonesian batik fabric.

A hand-drawn selendang batik tulis from East Java, with a foliate motif against a tiny wave pattern ground, rendered in browns and some blue.

The word batik is Javanese, related to bathikan which means "drawing" or "writing", because the intricate detail on the fabric are drawn with pencil and wax, allowing for strong, bold patterns and colour contrasts.

A batik tulis slendang (narrow shawl). The main panel shows two large birds of paradise (cenderawasih) sitting in trees, with four butterflies and other vegetation. The pale colouring suggests that this may originate in West Java.

Making batik can be time-consuming, but the results speak for themselves, and as a result the technique has spread to other places like Malaysia, India, Sri Lanka, and various African countries.

The pattern includes birds, flowers and foliage motifs. Each end features the traditional triangular "tumpal" design, a common characteristic of the traditional sarong. This fabric is patterned with the tulis batik (hand worked batic) technique.

You can find out more about the International Textiles Collection here.