Indonesian Arts

Batik Jambi Batik Jambi is not very famous due to the number of the artists are low, therefore the production is also low. Therefore, the distribution of batik Jambi is limited in some areas like Jambi, South Sumatera and West Sumatra. There is no clear evidence whether batik Jambi has been there before any contact with Java. Some believe that batik Jambi was developed by the king family during the Melayu-Jambi empire which later gradually collapsed. Whereas, according to P.W. Philipsen, around 1875 Haji Mahibats and his family arrived in Jambi from Central Java and developed batik in Jambi. In the past, Jambi used to have trade relation with Indramayu, Cirebon, Tuban, Lasem and Madura which gave influence to batik art in Jambi. Jambi also recognizes batik which the motif is similar to songket Palembang. The influence of Solo-Yogya can also be seen at batik with sawat or lar). Arab influence is also found in batik Jambi that can be seen in calligraphy and mid-east geometric decorative types. Chinese Influence can be seen at bird hong motif at the cloth boundary. Indian influence can be seen from the existence of patola decorative at cinde and bean (kemeh, sembagen). Batik Jambi adopts motifs from flora found in Indonesia like gardenia and keladi leaf. Fauna motifs have never been used in batik Jambi. The colors of the original batik Jambi are dark blue, black blue, carmine and yellowish. Yellowish tend to be the most specific color extracted from lembato tree. Jambi implements squish (ramas) technique so called remukan in Java. Long loose cloth of batik Jambi always implements boundary decoration at the two ends. Boundary are also implemented at scarf and sarong. The better quality of batik will have the wider periphery decorations. The size of the scarf is very wide since the scarf used to be worn to cover women’s heads and functioned as veil. The local people favor batik in long loose cloth rather than sarong. [Olin/Batik Image Source:Katalog Batik Indonesia, Departemen Perdagangan dan Perindustrian RI] Souerce : © 2011 e.artscraftindonesia.com