Author: Fred W. Van Oss, 1996, 192pgs. (Indonesian, Dutch and English), Hardcover
Publisher: Nederlands Textiel Museum, Tilburg, Netherlands
The book was published in conjunction with an exhibition of the same title, held at the Textiel Museum in Tilburg, the Netherlands, from June 1 to September 1, 1996, and subsequently presented in Jakarta later that month. This volume opens with a comprehensive account of the historical development of batik, followed by an exploration of its production techniques and regional variations. The text highlights the distinctive practices across numerous cultural centers, including Solo, Yogyakarta, Pekalongan, Kedungwuni, Tegal, Cirebon, Trusmi, Indramayu, Garut, Tasikmalaya, Ciamis, Banyumas, Purwokerto, Demak, Kudus, Juwana, Rembang, Lasem, Tuban, Kerek, Pacitan, Ponorogo, Tulungagung, Blitar, Kediri, Sidoarjo, Gresik, and Madura. Each locality is represented by a masterwork of batik, exemplifying the artistic heritage and regional identity embedded within this textile tradition.
Author: Indriwati Gondowinoto & Dyah Merta, Edisi ke 3, 2026. 153pgs. (Indonesian). Hardcover
Publisher: Global Pustaka Utama, Yogyakarta
The author is a fourth-generation descendant of the Gan Sam Gie lineage, a family historically renowned for its highly successful batik atelier in Pekalongan. Following the passing of the third generation, however, the enterprise experienced a marked decline in production and was ultimately discontinued. This volume is composed in commemoration of the Gan ancestors, who inaugurated the batik enterprise in 1870. Although Indriwaty is not a batik artisan herself, she undertook the preservation of residual tools and paraphernalia salvaged from her ancestral home, including original design sketches created by her father, Gan Tjiang Liem. Her research extended internationally, encompassing visits to prominent institutions such as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) in the United States and the Wereldmuseum of World Cultures in the Netherlands, as well as consultations with private collectors in Indonesia, all in pursuit of her family’s batik legacy. This book holds particular significance as it illuminates Peranakan batik as a medium of cultural syncretism, representing the acculturation of Javanese and Chinese traditions. Indriwaty underscores the enduring truth inscribed on one of her father’s batiks: “Without ancestors, we do not exist.” Thus, the work functions not only as a biographical chronicle of the Gan family but also as a tribute to batik as a tangible manifestation of intercultural fusion within Indonesia.
Author: Lee Chor Lin, 2007. 144pgs. (English). Softcover
Publisher: The National Museum of Singapore & Editions Didier Millet
This volume conceptualizes batik not merely as a textile, but as a semiotic medium that embodies cultural identity, philosophical outlook, and socio-historical continuity. Within the Javanese tradition, batik functions as a visual articulation of cosmological principles and ethical values, encoding philosophical orientations toward life through its motifs, colors, and symbolic structures. Simultaneously, the text situates batik within the evolving modern Indonesian and Singaporean social context, thereby highlighting its adaptive role in transnational cultural exchanges and contemporary identity formation. The author provides a systematic overview of stylistic variations and popular batik forms prevalent during specific historical periods, thereby offering insight into the dynamic interplay between tradition and innovation. Furthermore, the book foregrounds the contributions of individual batik artisans, emphasizing both the technical sophistication and creative ingenuity inherent in their craft.
Author: Dr. Purwadi, 2008. 316pgs. (Indonesian). Softcover
Publisher: Media Abadi, Yogyakarta
Babad Giyanti stands as one of the most consequential masterpieces of classical Javanese literature, simultaneously a work of poetic artistry and a historical chronicle of profound political rupture. Composed in the traditional tembang macapat verse form by the eminent court poet Yasadipura I, the text documents the turbulent decline of the Mataram Sultanate, culminating in the Treaty of Giyanti on 13 February 1755. This treaty irrevocably partitioned the Javanese heartland, inaugurating the Kasunanan Surakarta under Pakubuwana III and the Kesultanan Yogyakarta under Prince Mangkubumi (Hamengkubuwana I), following protracted conflict against Surakarta and its formidable ally, the Dutch East India Company (VOC). The chronicle traces shifting military strategies, volatile allegiances, and widespread peasant skirmishes, climaxing at the village of Giyanti where the division of the realm was formalized. Yet beyond geopolitics, the narrative interweaves intimate subplots of courtly life, religious devotion, and the emotional toll borne by royal figures exiled to distant colonial outposts such as Ceylon (Sri Lanka). Rather than presenting history as a sterile chronology, the Babad refracts events through a distinctly Javanese political cosmology, interrogating how rulers balanced wahyu (divine radiance and authority) with pragmatic statecraft. Renowned historian M.C. Ricklefs observed that Babad Giyanti maintains striking historical accuracy, but its deeper value lies in its function as a lens into the intellectual world of the Javanese elite. It preserves cultural nuances overlooked in VOC records, such as the role of performing arts and dance as martial discipline. The text elegantly entwines mystical traditions with orthodox Islam, depicting courtiers engaged in Qur’anic recitation or the reconstitution of elite religious regiments—faith mobilized as resilience amid political fracture. Yasadipura’s mastery of the macapat form is celebrated for its aesthetic grace, with shifts in meter evoking martial fervor in battle sequences and poignant melancholy in episodes of exile and familial separation. For modern readers, the classical Javanese idiom can be daunting, necessitating translation or scholarly annotation to fully apprehend its literary richness. Yet Babad Giyanti endures as a monumental epic, indispensable for understanding the psychological and geopolitical reconfiguration of eighteenth-century Java. It elevates an era of fragmentation and colonial intrusion into an immortal work of high literary art, embodying both historical testimony and aesthetic transcendence.
Author: Ida Ayu Putu Surayin, 2002. 140pgs. (Indonesian), softcover Seri II Upakara Yajna
Publisher: Paramita, Surabaya
Balinese offerings are intricate ritual creations dedicated to deities, ancestral spirits, human communities, and even the underworld. They are central to Balinese religious life, serving as visible expressions of devotion, gratitude, and the pursuit of cosmic balance. Rooted in a synthesis of Hindu-Buddhist traditions and indigenous animism. These offerings are present in all major ceremonies: rites of passage (manusa yadnya), temple rituals (dewa yadnya), and funerary rites (pitra yadnya). These offerings are governed by the principle of balance between the seen (sekala) and unseen (niskala) worlds. Materials and techniques, such as natural elements of palm leaves, betel (sirih), jackfruit (nangka) leaves, flowers, processed substances, like rice flour, cakes (jajan), cooked foods. Using containers: of clay, wood, bamboo—reflecting ecological adaptation and artisanal tradition. Sesajen functions as devotional: acts of reverence toward gods and ancestors, social cohesion: collective preparation strengthens community bonds; aesthetic discipline: artistry itself becomes worship, and cosmic mediation, offerings maintain harmony between benevolent and malevolent forces. Balinese offerings are multifunctional cultural artifacts—simultaneously works of art, vehicles of prayer, instruments of social solidarity, and embodiments of cosmological philosophy. Their omnipresence in ritual life reflects the Balinese worldview that the sacred permeates daily existence, and that beauty, devotion, and balance are inseparable.
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