This Javanese culture brought up by the high society level of Mataram and it penetrated the Sundanese high society level of Sundanese land. The second is feudal inland Javanese culture brought by the Mataram soldiers as well as the blue-blood tradition through the military expedition and power and cultural hegemony since the second quarter of 17th century to the mid19th century. The Javanese coastal culture rooted from this period continuously exists to the present although gradually and periodically some enculturation and acculturation as well as development were executed in line with local tradition and condition. The process is natural and peaceful in nature. The first is through trading, agriculture, and migration at the north coast, coincided with the Islamizing process at the end of 15th century to mid16th. First (at the end of 15th century) the Islamic culture that first entered the north part of West Java (Cirebon and Banten), and then (at the beginning of 17th century) the Javanese Mataram penetrated from the east inland, and at last (beginning from the middle of 17th century) the power of trading, military and Dutch/VOC took over all area of Sundanese land (Ekadjati, 2004)”.Īnother information supported the above fact, as follow.,” the penetration of Javanese culture intothe Sundanese area and society occurred in two periods and methods. And those elements were gradually crushed and edged due to new ideology/or ideologies coming into West Java. The Sundanese ideology – gradually shaped in about nine centuries – in the era of Sundanese kingdom (from the beginning of 8th century to the end of 16th century) in forms of letters, language, ethics, customs/law, social institution, belief, etc. ”the fall of Hinduism-influenced Sundanese kingdom at the end of 16th century (1579) that gradually impacted to the elimination of all elements in Sundanese life, meaning, Sundanese culture. This information can be revealed from the event of. Some of the West Javan motifs have now been unknown, and it is difficult to trace their originality back (Morissan, 2005)”. “common people that batik in West Java (Sunda) was rooted in Javanese culture but then batik in West Java has special characteristics. Important findings of batik terminology in Sundanese culture which can be seen in Batik Priangan should be studied and documented includingĪesthetic expressions as peperenian urang poems/tembang/pupuh Sunda, undak-usuk basa.Īlthough most of the batik experts have acknowledged that Sundanese artefacts – especially batik – were influenced by Javanese culture and in addition to that there were The meaning of the two terms: euyeuk (batik) and pangeuyeuk (batik master) have not yet been clearly established. The manuscripts are in form of lontar, nipah, saeh, daluang, and paper (Suryani NS., cs, 2005)” that can fully describe and relate the connection between aesthetical aspects as well as its application, in forms of – among others - euyeuk (batik) pangeuyeuk (batik master). Although there are no relics of the Sundanese kingdom, but pieces of fabrics aged about 200-300 years have been found and documented (Rosidi, et al., 2000).Įarly Sundanese writing are in the form of ancient Sundanese script as well as script from stones written in West Java from the 11th to 18th century in the era of Sundanese kingdom and Galuh Kingdom. In relation to batik artefact, there is a significant statement in the script of “Siksa Kanda ng Karesian” of the first half of 16th century that has clearly declared that at the time when the script was written, the Sundanese people had been familiar with a number of fabrics (samping) and batik as well. It is expected that these aspects can be gleaned from Batik Priangan and enrich the documentation of this type of fabric produced in West Java. On the other hand, its aesthetics (Sundanese) values are inherent within aesthetics values of its culture. It is generally accepted that Sundanese artefacts – in this case: batik– has been influenced by Javanese culture. In other words, these two elements have become important factors in the search of tracing the Sundanese artefacts comprehensively. Having surveyed the Sundanese cultural bibliography and artefacts, I concluded that there is a few artefacts dedicated to visual objects, especially the aspects of aesthetics and identity.

This sort of study can be a fresh start, within itself, and at the same time is an attempt to complete the previous researches. Batik, has been subject of research in many of its aspects, but in the context of Modern Batik Priangan, it needs to be viewed from the aspect of identity concerning the area of production and the creative industry.

Kelir batik