Souvenir batik with map of Java

Souvenir batiks were bought or commissioned by Dutch soldiers, who were sent to Indonesia following the end of WWII and the declaration of Indonesian independence in 1945 to reassert control over the former Dutch colony. The pictorial composition of the souvenir batik is oriented diagonally, with a figure of Vishnu riding a garuda depicted above a map of Java. A parang rusak border terminates at the bottom with the shop mark of the batik maker, ‘Han Kwee’. It was common practice if not tradition in the Dutch army for soldiers to purchase souvenirs from where they were stationed as a way of remembering their time in military service.

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