This large batik skirtcloth in the Yogyakarta court style would have been worn as an elaborately folded and tied skirtcloth. Such cloths were known as dodot and were meant for formal ceremonial wear by men at court. The word ‘batik’ is a related to the Old Javanese term, thika, which means writing, drawing or painting. It is a technique for decorating plain cotton fabric using molten wax applied or drawn onto the cloth. The wax, known as a ‘resist’, prevented the absorption of dyes to the areas on which it is applied. By successive applications of wax and dye, highly complex and intricate patterns and designs could be created. In batik tulis wax is drawn onto the cloth using tools known as canting. This painstaking process that requires years of practise to perfect but produces batik of the highest quality.
