Self-Guided Trail: Seeds of Change: Self-Guided Tour
Work 12 of 12

Indian chintz played a central role in dress at the Javanese courts, most famously in the dodot — a large, voluminous ceremonial skirt-cloth gathered at the waist with a sash, worn by male aristocrats in the courts of Yogyakarta and Surakarta. These dodot were often made from patola or chintz with geometric and floral motifs adapted specifically for priyayi (Javanese nobility), and less expensive versions were reworked into shoulder cloths and breast cloths for noblewomen. Large ceremonial dodot cloths made of two sewn-together lengths, often featuring big diamond or lozenge patterns at their center, were produced specifically for this Southeast Asian court market. This trade was part of a much older and larger exchange: Indian cotton textiles were already being traded as far as Indonesia by the 13th century, along maritime routes that predated European colonization, and for over 500 years Indonesia exchanged prized spices such as nutmeg, mace, and cloves — found nowhere else — for Indian chintz, which local rulers reserved largely for royalty and nobility.