The history of Riau batik motifs and their explanations — Riau batik began to be known and became a culture starting from the era of the ancient Malay Kingdom, namely the Daik Lingga Kingdom in 1824-1911 AD in the Riau Islands. Batik in this Lingga era did not use wax as a color barrier, but silver and yellow dyes were stamped on the fabric using bronze with a typical Malay pattern. The fabric used for batik is a silky smooth fabric.
Along with the development of civilization, the use of bronze metal materials began to be abandoned and switched to softwood which we hereinafter commonly called telepuk cloth crafts. The meaning of word telepuk itself means the motif of prada flowers on cloth. Telepu crafts are rooted in past Indian culture, until now it is not known when this Indian culture entered the Sumatran region which in the past was called swarnadwipa or swarnabhumi or serendib.
Around 1985, one of the Riau Provincial Offices made efforts to revive the Riau Batik culture by providing batik training to the people of Riau. The technique and method of making Riau Batik are the same as the process of making Javanese batik which uses Canting as the main component in batik. The only difference is in the batik motif created on a piece of Riau written batik cloth, namely the motif with the image of Riau Malay woven batik.
In the 1990s, Batik Selerang began to be known as Riau batik, but the existence of selerang batik began to disappear because it might be caused by a sluggish market share of the batik product. The chain of the evolutionary process of riau batik motifs began during the SBY government era when batik began to be promoted as the cultural heritage of the archipelago and the government invited people to wear batik in every daily activity including work.
This gave rise to the creativity of the artisans to publish new batik motifs that follow the current fashion trends but still show the characteristic of origin, namely, Riau batik until at the end of it produced a new batik motif pattern by taking the theme – a striped veil typical of Riau Malay culture with longitudinal lines ranging from top to bottom accompanied by elements of Malay motifs – the main ornament is found on the Riau Malay veils. Furthermore, Riau batik motifs were developed again by bringing out a combination of plant patterns taken as the basis for batik design such as flower or flower motifs, namely, Bintang, Cempaka, Sosoum, and Kenduduk flowers. Riau Batik continues to grow until in the end it is also known as “Batik Tabir”.
Currently, there have been many emerging Riau batik producers, including,
- Batik Lancang Kuning (Batik Tulis cloth) produced by Ibu Sudirah
- Tanjung Sari (Batik Tulis cloth) produced by Ibu Tanjung
Riau Batik Motifs
Javanese Batik is always dominated by soft and calm colors, in contrast to Batik Tabir which leans towards using a combination of bright colors. The patterns and motifs of Riau batik produced are mostly plant-themed and we will never encounter a type of Tabir Batik that depicts an animal or human life because of the essential factor of bright color itself. Some of the riau batik motifs include Tanjung Flowers, Bungo Kesumbo, Cempaka Flowers, and Kaluk Layered Sunflowers.
One form of protection or protection of the Riau Batik motif which is a characteristic and maintains existence is by obtaining patents or intellectual property rights for the batik motifs. There are so many hopes that soar for batik products from Bumi Lancang Kuning to become part of Indonesia’s cultural wealth in the future.
Here are 39 motifs of Riau Veil Batik that Already Have Intellectual Property Rights (HAKI):
- “FLOWER FLORETS BLOOMING CROWNED”
- “BLOOMING FLORETS WAVING”
- “LAYERED KELUK SUNFLOWER”
- “SARI STUDDED WITH FULL FLORETS”
- “NOBLE PRINCESS KUNDUR FLOWER”
- “DECORATIVE STAR FLOWER ELBOWED”
- “STACKED RAINBOW BLOOMING FLOWERS”
- “CLOVE FLOWERS IN FULL BLOOM”
- “FLOWER CONTAINS CHILD’S SHELLS”
- “FULL FLOWER OF ORNATE PRINCESSES”
- “FLOWERS STUDDED WITH FULL STALKS”
- “FLORETS FULL OF HEADERS WAVING”
- “STUDDED FLOWER BLOOMING FLORETS”
- “FLOWERS CONTAINING FIVE LOOKS”
- “THE BLOOMING STARS INTERSPERSED”
- “STACKED PEARL SUNFLOWER”
- “ASSEMBLED FLORETS IN FULL BLOOM”
- “BLOOMING FLOWERS OF FLORETS SIDE BY SIDE”
- “FLOWER SPIRIT OF ANGEL HEADER”
- “YOUNG FLORETS OF LEAF PETALS”
- “WAJIK BLOOMING FLORETS ARRANGED”
- “SUNFLOWER STUDDED WITH FLORETS”
- “ORNATE PRINCESS COTTON FLOWER”
- “DAYANG DAUN KEMBANG”
- “SQUARED PETALS”
- “ORNATE STRIP BLOOMING FLORETS”
- “KUSUMA BLOOMS CUPPED”
- “OVERLAPPING ORNATE FLOWERS”
- “FULL FLOWER OF WAJIK TO BE CONTINUED”
- “TURRETS COMPOSED OF PENNUH”
- “STAR DROOPING FLOWER STUDDED”
- “FLOWERS WITH DROOPING FLORETS”
- “BLOOMING KESUMA LEAVES OF OPPRESSED LEAVES”
- “KUNTUM DECORATED WITH YOUNG FLORETS”
- “STAR STAR BRANCHED FLORETS”
- “FLOWERS FULL OF ORANGE CLOUDS”
- “REED SPIKE LEAVES SPROUT”
- “FULL OF ELBOWS CLASHING”
- “WAJIK SUSUN STUDDED WITH CHILDREN”
Also read other articles: Solo batik, pekalongan batik, yogyakarta batik cloth, cirebon batik, lampung batik, papua batik, blitar batik, balinese batik, madura batik, malang batik, jember batik, truntum batik, sidomukti batik, and Kalimantan batik.
Riau Batik Pictures
Bibliography of the History of Riau Batik Motifs and Explanations
- bpnptanjungpinang, 2014. Batik Tabir: New Batik Khas Riau. Ministry of Education and Culture, online: http://goo.gl/EpTZq1 accessed March 10, 2016.
- Malvyandie Haryadi, 2015. Riau Batik Faithful with Plant Motifs Since the Royal Era. TribunNews, online: http://goo.gl/HQX89a. Retrieved 10 March 2016.