Batik History

It has a close relation with Majapahit Kingdom development and Islamic spreading in java. In many cases, most of batik development occurred in Mataram period, Solo and Yogyakarta Kingdom. Therefore, it has been known since the period of Majapahit Kingdom and it keep on improving for the next kings.

Meanwhile, in the end of 18th centuries or in the beginning of 19th centuries, batik has been dominated by Indonesian people, especially by Javanese. In the beginning of 20th centuries, they produced handwritten batik while had just been known in 1920. Related to Islamic spreading, most of the batik shopping center was located in Islamic regions and it was used to struggle against the Dutch economy.
Batik art is a painting art on the material. It had a function to be a costume worn by the princes in the past. For the first time, it has just been produced in the palace area and it was worn by the prince, his family and his companions. Then, it was brought and processed outside because many of the companions lived out of the palace area. Not long afterward, it was imitated by the closest people and then it became a livelihood for many housewives to spend their leisure time. Finally, batik was not only worn by prince and his family but also for common people, both man and woman. Furthermore, the batik material is made by weaving. For the dye material, it came from Indonesian natural plants such as: Bengkudu tree, tinggi, soga and nila. The soda material made of ash soda while its salt made of mud.