Batik Nyonyas Talks

Modernity Unseen
The Free-Spirited Batiks of Nyonya Oeij Soen King and Her Contemporaries from the North Coast of Java

This lecture is free.
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Nyonya Oeij Soen King’s custom-made batiks, produced in Pekalongan between 1890 and 1925, upend every preconceived idea about traditional batik production and styles. Her technical mastery and unconventional designs reveal that there is nothing traditional about her work. Scientific analysis of the red dyes and fabrics used in batiks made by Nyonya Oeij and her contemporaries from the north coast of Java (pesisir) also reveal the varied materials used to make their batiks.

In this talk, Peter Lee explores the life and works of Nyonya Oeij through eighteen batiks donated to the Peranakan Museum in 2017, while Miki Komatsu and Lynn Chua provide insights from scientific analysis conducted at the Heritage Conservation Centre, Singapore.


About the speakers


Peter Lee is the author of Sarong Kebaya: Peranakan Fashion in an Interconnected World, 1500–1900 and co-author of Port Cities: Multicultural Emporiums of Asia, 1500–1900, both published by ACM.
He is the Founding Curator of NUS Baba House and host of The Mark of Empire on CNA.


Miki Komatsu is principal conservator of textiles at the Heritage Conservation Centre. She has headed the Textile Conservation section since 2010, and has served as the conservator-in-charge for several major exhibitions, including Patterns of Trade: Indian Textiles for Export, 1400–1900. Her research interests include fibres and dyes, the technical analysis of historical textiles, and microfadeometry.


Lynn Chua is a conservation scientist at the Heritage Conservation Centre. Working closely with conservators and curators, her research uses multiple micro-analytical techniques to characterise materials from the National Collection. Her current research interests include Peranakan glass beads and the dye analysis of historical textiles.

About the moderator


Darryl Lim is assistant curator for Southeast Asia at the Asian Civilisations Museum and Peranakan Museum. His research focuses on everyday expressions of ethnic and religious identity in Southeast Asia, as well as on the materiality of religion in Thailand. He is the co-curator of Batik Nyonyas: Three Generations of Art and Entrepreneurship.


^{Images from left to right:
Sarong (detail). 1890–1925. Cotton (drawn batik). 2017–00323.
Kain panjang (detail). 1890–1925. Cotton (drawn batik). 2017–00336.
Sarong (detail). 1920s. Cotton (drawn batik). 2017–00324.
Nyonya Oeij Soen King (1871–1950)
Gifts of Ika, Melia, and Inge Hendromartono in memory of their parents Liem Siok Hien and Jane Hendromartono, grandmother Nyonya Oeij Kok Sing, and great grandmother Nyonya Oeij Soen King.}


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