The Gold Painted Jarik

In a city of Central Java called Solo, I toured a museum collection of batik called the Danar Hadi Batik Museum. One textile from Kesultanan Yogyakarta was covered in the small flower motif called Truntrun, ornamented with pure gold flecks. The gold was painted on using egg whites for the princes coming of age ceremony nearly 200 years ago. Upon close inspection you could still see the residual egg white surrounding the ornamentations on the fabric. The piece itself was worn only once by the prince and since then has never been washed. It was gifted to him by the king following his circumcision ritual, which traditionally would happen around the age of twelve. For princesses the coming of age ritual would occur when she had her first menstruation. It was incredible to imagine the time and precision that went into attaching each gold fleck to the fabric, to be worn for only a few hours. This fabric to me, more than any other in the museum’s collection, commemorated Batik as a ceremonial voice. In this royal tradition it speaks of parental blessing, a covering of kingdom, like Josephs cloak of dreams, it is a gift and a blessing given.

To learn more about Batik and my visit to this museum, click here