Waist Wrapper (Sarung), ILE2012.30.831

Title Waist Wrapper (Sarung)
Culture Lasem
Geography Java, Indonesia
Date ca. 1900
Medium Cotton; plain weave and hand‑drawn batik
Dimensions 80 11/16 × 41 5/16 in. (205 × 105 cm)
Credit Line Promised gift of Thomas Jaffe, B.A. 1971
Inv. No. ILE2012.30.831
View in Collection

The main field of this sarung shows groups of soldiers on foot and horseback, engaged in fighting scenes. A commanding officer sits under a canopy. One soldier climbs a lookout tower with a flag, and another soldier ascends the entrance ladder of a house on stilts. There are also plants, carts, a rabbit, and numerous birds. The background is white (undyed), and the figures are red and blue. The head (kepala) has large white and blue triangles filled with animals and plants and red diamond shapes filled with stars. —RB