Batik occupies a special place in Indonesian culture. Each fabric has a rich story to tell—as a reflection of the nation's religious beliefs, sophisticated court cultures and cosmopolitan history.

The extraordinary textiles in this book are from the collections of Rudolf Smend and Donald Harper. Most date from the period 1880 to 1930 when the art of batik reached its apogee. Having collected historic batik for over thirty years and published two books on the subject, Rudolf Smend has invited his friend and fellow batik specialist Donald Harper to contribute his fine collection to this publication as well. None of the batik in this book have been published before. They represent an exquisite cross-section of the batik production of Java—the most important batik-producing region in the world.

The cloths are complemented by vintage photographs from the first quarter of the 20th century demonstrating how the batik were worn at court and at home. Three are from museums in Dresden and Cologne, while three are from the private collection of Leo Haks. The others have been collected over the past 30 years from private sources in Java. The captions are by Maria Wronska-Friend, an ethnologist and batik expert who frequently visits Indonesian batik centers and has worked for many years as an anthropologist in Papua New Guinea. Her contributions provide fundamental knowledge for lovers of this art form while at the same time providing new insights for experts.

Rudolf Smend has invited other batik aficionados of his generation to share their passion for batik in this book. Inger McCabe Elliott, author of the bestselling Batik: Fabled Cloth of Java has contributed her lifelong experience. Other authorities like Annegret Haake, Brigitte Khan Majlis and Jonathan Hope share their views and expertise in these pages. This book represents a labor of love and a lifetime of friendship for the two authors, who hope it will provide inspiration to a whole new generation of batik lovers.

蜡染占据着印尼文化一个特殊的地方。每个织物都有着其丰富的历史——反应国家的宗教信仰，复杂的宫廷文化和国际化的历史。

书中所呈现的美丽织物来自鲁道夫·西门德和唐纳德·哈珀的收藏。大多数是1880到1930年间蜡染艺术达到顶峰时期的作品，鲁道夫·西门德收藏蜡染织物已有30余年，并出版了两本关于蜡染的书。本书是他与自己的好友，同时也是蜡染方面的专家，唐纳德·哈珀共同完成本书，本书中所有的蜡染织物都是未曾发表过的，它们代表了爪哇（世界上最重要的蜡染生产民族）蜡染生产的一个重要方面。书中用20世纪法庭和家中常穿的蜡染布料的复古照片，让读者有具体的视觉感受。