Woman’s Tubular Skirt (kain sarung) with Design of Floral Bouquets, Birds, and Butterflies on a Rice-Grain (beras wutah) Background

This woman’s tubular skirt, known as kain sarung, has various shades of blue on white cotton with hand-drawn wax-resist patterns. Diagonal bands of flowers enliven the central kepala (head) section; the darker blue bands are densely worked in the galaran pattern. Four floral bouquets with birds and butterflies are set against a remarkably fine rice-grain filler pattern on the background of the badan (body) section. Such garments with diagonal bands in the kepala and floral bouquets in the badan were produced by artists of Peranakan (mixed Javanese and Chinese) descent in Pekalongan. This major center of batik production is located on the north coast of central Java. Peranakan residents of this region, called the Pesisir, wore blue-and-white cloths of this design during times of mourning.