PROBABLY PEKALONGAN, NORTH JAVA, EARLY 20TH CENTURY

Towards the end of the 19th century Dutch and Eurasian women began to establish innovative batik workshops along the north coast of Java producing novel and naturalistic designs that appealed to the tastes of the European settlers as well as the Western export market. One of the most famous of these was the Pekalongan workshop of Eliza van Zuylen, which ran from 1890 until the mid 20th century. The designs of these batiks ranged from bold floral sprays with birds, to everyday items such as bicycles and bank-notes as well as whimsical European fairy-tales. The European fairy-tales, of which the present lot is an example, were particularly popular batik designs and included Red Riding Hood, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Sleeping Beauty but Red Riding Hood was especially popular. A related floral batik is illustrated in John Gillow, Textiles of the Islamic World, London, 2010, p.286.