Indian Batik of Two Birds. Tag on back reads "expressly for interlude." 

Overall Size: 50 x 42 in. 
Sight Size: 48 1/4 x 40 1/2 in. 
#5020 . 

Batik is an Indonesian technique of wax-resist dyeing applied to the whole cloth. Batik is made either by drawing dots and lines of wax with a spouted tool called a canting, or by printing the wax with a copper stamp called a cap. The applied wax resists dyes and therefore allows the artisan to color selectively by soaking the cloth in one color, removing the wax with boiling water, and repeating if multiple colors are desired. Batik is very important to Indonesians, and many people wear it to formal or casual events, including various rituals, ceremonies, celebrations, and even in daily uses. Indonesian batik predates written records; it is believed by European historians to have been introduced during the 6th or 7th Century from India or Sri Lanka. Conversely, Indonesian archaeologists believe that batik is a native tradition that then spread to the rest of Southeast Asia and even as far as Africa, specifically due to its appearance on other Near Pacific Islands that were not directly influenced by Hinduism. In Europe, the technique was described for the first time in the “History of Java,” published in London in 1817 by Stamford Raffles. The Dutch and Chinese who came to Indonesia were active in developing batik, particularly coastal batik, in the late colonial era. They introduced new patterns as well as the use of the cap (copper block stamps) to mass-produce batiks. The industry itself collapsed after World War II and the declaration of Indonesia’s independence, with most modern batik made for personal use on the island itself. 

In Hinduism two birds are often seen together as inseparable companions, and a metaphor for the individual self alongside the Supreme Soul. This image is a representation of a popular verse from the Mundaka Upanishad: “Two birds, beautiful of wing, close companions, cling to one common tree. One eats the sweet fruit of the tree, but the other only watches his fellow, and eats not.”

Slight lost of color throughout.