Batik “Krakatoa/ Amsterdam”

Antique batik Indo-dutch motif from the early 1900s. Skirt cloth (kain Panjang) with a steamship. This cloth is designed with rows of steamships the popular theme in the Dutch East Indies in the early 1900s.

It is hand-drawn in a high standard with botanicals and sea creatures. The hull of the ship in this cloth is emblazoned with the name “Krakatau-Amsteerdam”. This is most likely a reference to the S.S. Krakatau a large passenger liner which plied the route between Batavia and Amsterdam in the early 1900s. The Krakatau was part of the government-run Netherlands Royal Mail Line.