This interesting collection of objects was acquired over numerous years by the donor during his tenure as Trade Commissioner with the Australian Trade Commission. The donor, accompanied by his wife, lived in Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, India and China from the late 1950s through to the mid 1980s.

Historically, Australia has shared a strong emotional and economic bond with Great Britain. From the 1970s until the present, the emphasis has been on increasing and strengthening Australia's relationship with Asia. This collection reflects Australia's shift in attitude toward travel and trade with our Asian neighbours.

The canting is a traditional Indonesian design tool comprised of a copper bowl with a down-ward curving spout and bamboo handle. It is used to apply wax in fine dots and lines on a cloth. The copper bowl is filled with melted wax and the artisan then uses the canting to draw the design in wax on the cloth. The copper bowl and bamboo handle are of similar size in most canting with variations in the size and number of the tip used to control the application of melted wax. For fine detailed work a canting with an opening of about 1 millimetre is used. For larger areas, a wider spout is used.

The batik process involves producing a design on textiles through dye-resist. The resist, usually wax, prevents the dye from penetrating the covered areas of the fabric, thus creating a pattern in negative. Additional wax is added to the pattern or to preserve areas of colour. The process of waxing and dyeing is repeated depending on the pattern and number of dyes involved. The process of batik is labour intensive and requires concentration, patience and a high level of skill.

The donor worked for the Australian Trade Commission and had a number of postings in Asia including India in the late 1950s and late 1970s; Japan mid 1970s; Singapore mid 1970s and China in the early 1980s. He was accompanied by his wife.

Canting tools (6), batik swatches (8) and batik brochures (2), cotton / bamboo / copper / string / wax / paper, maker unknown, Indonesia, 1958-1968

Canting (tjanting) with cylindrical bamboo handle cut to a tapered blunt point at the upper end into which an oval copper bowl with downward angled spout is fitted. The spout is secured to the bamboo cylinder with orange thread. Five of the canting have a single spout, one canting has five spouts.

Eight cotton swatches stapled together illustrating the various stages involved in the batik making process. The swatches feature an identical floral motif. Each swatch has dye resist wax added to a different area of the pattern to preserve areas of colour concluding with the finished product in cream, black and mustard on a red ground.

Small brochure made of thin card featuring corresponding numbered fabric batik samples and descriptions of the batik making process. The brochure, entitled 'Balai Penelitian Batik and Reradjinan Batik and Handicraft Research Institute', is folded in three sections. The centre section describes the batik-making process and is in numbered steps 1 through to 9. The left section features five rectangular fabric samples displayed vertically and numbered from 1-5 with four fabric samples numbered 6-9 on the right section. Each fabric sample has pinked edges and is glued inside a black rectangular border. The text is written in English and Indonesian.

Brochure folder made of thin card decorated in a batik design in orange and pale yellow on a purple ground and decorated with the text 'batik' in silver foil. Glued to the inside of the folder is a single sheet of folded paper smaller in size than the cover entitled 'Introduction'. The right-hand side of the sheet of paper contains a typewritten introduction explaining the three main aims of the batik exhibition held in Jakarta, June 1968.

Made: 1958 - 1968

2007/44/6

1958 - 1968

165 mm