The Art of Batik Gedhog

Amid the dazzling variety of batik available in Indonesia, batik gedhog or Tuban batik, as it is also known, stands out because of its rough, handwoven cotton fabric and its simple indigo-blue and morinda-red patterns representing cotton, rice, edible gourds, creeping vines, small birds, and phoenixes.

Batik gedhog is produced in the rural village of Kerek,100 kilometers west of Surabaya and a few kilometers west of the city of Tuban in East Java. Kerek is the only place in Indonesia where cotton is still grown, spun, dyed, woven, and hand-batiked all in one place.

From the 9^th century until the early 1600s, Tuban was the most important port in Java, trading in spices, dyewoods, silks and porcelains from China, patterned cotton and silk from India, as well as its own cotton yarns and textiles. However, in 1619, Tuban was conquered by the Mataram Sultan Agung Hanyakrakusuma, who chose Jepara as his main port, and shortly thereafter the Dutch set up Batavia (today Jakarta) as their center of trade. Tuban quickly faded from history, and languished in obscurity and poverty for almost 400 years...

Read more: http://nowjakarta.co.id/the-art-of-batik-gedhog

Text by Marianne Scholte