Woman’s Tubular Skirt (kain sarung) with Design of Floral Bouquets, Birds, and Butterflies

This garment, created by a Peranakan (Javanese-Chinese) workshop on the north coast of Java, is a tubular skirt that has been unstitched and opened. Made from very high-quality cotton, it has extremely fine hand-drawn floral bouquets surrounded by duck-like birds. In the kepala (head) panel at the left, the bouquet is set against diagonal bands of alternating colors while the bouquets in the badan (body) section are positioned against a background of fine scrolling tendrils, tiny dots and leaves, and small swimming fish. The colors come from synthetic dyes. At the upper left of the cloth are adjoining cartouches that identify the workshop and its location.