August 14, 2017


Welcome to Kuppu!

We specialise in Indonesian Batik & Tenun Ikat handbags that combined with quality genuine Italian leather. We'd proudly present the beauty of Central Java Batik, Balinese Tenun Ikat, Tenun Gedog Tuban and Tenun Ikat East Nusatenggara crafted in each Kuppu bag only for you!

More than a Gulden, Indo-Dutch Pekalongan Batik

Talking about a high-quality batik; a soft, fine fabric would be the prerequisite—which is the kind of fabric that could be easily found at the period of Dutch and England colonialism in Indonesia where a European-made white silken fabrics are much repeatedly imported, substituting a rough handmade woven fabric previously been used in making batik. Two great names in batik craftsmanship in Pekalongan are Lien Metzelaar and Eliza (Lies) van Zuylen-Niessen. 

 

Metzelaar pioneering many breakthroughs in batik that later widely imitated by other batik artisans, such as the motif of flowery bouquet (buketan motif), the pattern of flowers among a wide diagonal column adorned with many dots and lines (dlorong motif), also the notorious design of crane as the head piece of the batik cloth. Metzelaar signed her batiks with the signature of “L. Metzelaar Pekalongan”, which later days shortened with only “L. Metz Pek”.

 Van Zuylen batik (Panselen in the tongue of the native Indonesian) is the most famous Dutch batik known. Her works also extensively popularized the motif of buketan, though it was indeed renowned earlier. Buketan motif and the pastel color of Panselen batik still have their own zealous admirer until this very day. In the year of 1937 when van Zuylen started to sign her signature along with the design number on top of her batik, this exquisite cloth’s value reached around 15-20 gulden, whereas the price for a gram of gold itself was merely 1 gulden.[1]

 Although in her late days van Zuylen were unable to put signature on her work—around 1940—and her batik was no longer signed, her ardent fans are still manage to spot which one the real work of her craftsmanship and which is not.

[1] Helen Ishwara, et. al., Batik Pesisir Pusaka Indonesia: Koleksi Hartono Sumarsono, Jakarta, KPG: 20111, h. 93

“Owning one of van Zuylen’s exquisite hand-drawn cloths was a privilege that only very wealthy women in 19th-century colonial Indonesia enjoyed. With the average wage of a government employee being twenty guilders a month, and a van Zuylen sarong costing around thirteen guilders…” from the writing of the Curator of Dallas Museum of Arts, https://uncrated.wordpress.com/2015/03/25/discovering-eliza/

*Pictures by: https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/?artist_id=zuylen-eliza-van (buketan pink/salem)

 

http://collectie.wereldculturen.nl/default.aspx?ccid=P38851&lang= (bunga dlorong)

https://artsearch.nga.gov.au/detail.cfm?irn=186779&pictaus=true (flowers & birds)

 

 


Ira Tazar
Ira Tazar

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