Unknown Maker, Indonesian

Animals and calligraphy decorate this iket kepala (man’s headcloth), its interior square filled with pseudo-Arabic words and the name Allah (SWT). Encircling the center are four doves and eight medallions, each made up of abstracted, unintelligible words. Patterns of marks resembling small letters float in the background.

Made by applying wax to resist the dye, batik textiles are commonly used as headcloths, sarongs (wrapped lower garments), wall hangings, and furnishing covers. Batiks were traded between Southeast Asia and East Africa long before Dutch colonialism began in the early 1600s. During the 1880s, Dutch traders exported wax prints (see the Malian boubou on the opposite side of this case) and other textiles to West Africa.

Since at least the 13th century, Islam has enjoyed a prominent place in Southeast Asian culture. Over time, the region’s ancient and flourishing textile tradition has synthesized Hindu, Buddhist, and animist motifs with design elements traceable to the influence of Persian, Mughal Indian, and Ottoman Turkish arts. Most of the region’s textiles do not exhibit overt Islamic references, but instead have responded in form to the drive for modest dress and in pattern to the ornamental aesthetics, such as stylized floral and tendril motifs, seen in the greater Islamic world. The head cloth (iket kepala) here presents a rare example of Islamic imagery used both to publicly signal the wearer’s faith and to offer him spiritual shelter. The swirling, stylized calligraphic notations, largely illegible, provided a sense of protection, an auspicious layer of meaning that would guide the wearer to good fortune and behavior.

Cirebon, on Java's North Coast, was a center for artisans specializing in designs based on Arabic calligraphy. Carved in stone or wood, or drawn on textiles in the batik technique, these images ranged from quotations from the Koran to purely decorative elements derived from Arabic script. Cirebon was famous for its "calligraphic zoomorphs," such as the stylized doves formed by script-like flourishes in this textile. Islam had spread to Java in the 14th century, and by the 17th century was the dominant religion.