Fabulous fabrics, symbols and sultans

This small reverse glass painting (21 x 34 cm) was acquired in Solo on Java in the large, open Triwindu Market, ?where you can buy bric-a-brac, knick-knacks and curios. At various places in town similar paintings could be seen displayed, showing everyday scenes like customers hanging around an ice cream stall (Es Puter) or buying snacks at the 'Fat Woman'? (Jenang Lemoe.) At first sight this picture seemed to depict another everyday scene of three women hanging their laundry. There is however, more at hand; the little painting is laden with symbols.

Painting 'backwards'

In Bahasa Indonesia this type of painting is called 'lukisan kaca', glass painting or ‘mirror drawing’. As the name suggests the scenes are painted on robust glass in a ‘backwards process’. Reverse glass paintings have been known since the 16th century in Western culture, in folkloristic or maritime traditions, such as ship portraits, they are painted 'in reverse ' i.e.? first the details are painted, then the next layer is applied, the background is the last to be laid on. In the case of a portrait for example, the eyes, mouth and nose are first painted in detail, before applying color to the skin and drawing the contour of the face and the background.

On closer inspection, the three women are not just hanging random pieces of laundry but they are drying sheets of batik cloth, and not just on any kind of clothesline, but on specially manufactured racks, the type we saw in the exclusive batik shop 'Gunawan Setawan' in Kampong Kauman in Solo. These special batik racks are used to display the different, glorious (and expensive) batiks.

Producing batik is a traditional craft, and every step of the process is done by hand. With a stamp or a special spout (canting) hot wax is applied to cotton fabric. The fabric is then dyed, where the parts that are covered in wax, do not become colored. Thus different – and very intricate - patterns are created. The more colorful ?and complex the pattern, the more often this process must be repeated.

Motif of strength and fight

On the little painting the three women are hanging batik fabric in different stages to dry. All three wear beneath their kebaya (the Indonesian blouse) a sarong with an S-shaped parang-motif in diagonal lines.

A parang is an Indonesian machete and this motif carries different levels of meaning in traditional Javanese culture; it gives the wearer strength and courage,

The ?parang motif (from ‘pereng’ which means slope or hill) is repeated in a diagonal line and is also believed to protect the wearer from disaster, it imbues wisdom and self-control, but in its connection to a weapon, the parang motif also symbolizes fighting spirit, battle and war. Especially because of that last type of ‘aggressive’ symbolism, only members of the royal family are allowed to wear the parang motif inside the Sultan's Palace in Yogyakarta.

The direction of the diagonally repeated motif depends on the place of production: in Solo it runs from top left to bottom right, in Yogyakarta from top right to bottom left.

The pattern on the sarongs of the women runs from top right to bottom left, therefore we can easily conclude that the women are dressed in a sarong typical of Yogyakarta, and that they live outside the palace grounds.

The golden angsana tree

It is not by accident that the three large, umbrella-shaped trees with yellow blossoms take central stage in the background, they play an important role in real life. The fragrant hardwood of this decorative, shady angsana tree (pterocarpus indicus) is also called 'rosewood' and is very suitable for making furniture, musical instruments, decorations and…. batik racks.

The leaves of the angsana tree are used as medicine against dysentery, but also for treating muscle pain after a long working day, such as the three women might develop. The flowers are, among other things, used as a shampoo, which the three ladies undoubtedly use for their long locks tied in a bun, but in this context it is interesting that the bark of the tree contains a reddish brown dye which, yes indeed... is used in the production of batik.

From the humble bark to the elevated sultan

Now we understand that the three lovely ladies, dressed in their traditional Yogyakarta sarongs, are working in the batik industry, hanging fabrics which are in different stages of production, to dry on special batik racks, produced from the wood of the angsana , ostentatiously depicted in the background.

So we see that this ‘traditional everyday scene’ actually is loaded with references and symbols. From the humble bark to the elevated sultan, several important elements from the traditional Javanese culture are frozen in glass, nature, batik production, symbolism and court art are united in this seemingly simple reverse glass painting.

? Marieke Burgers: photo and text

Reverse glass painting by unknown artist