A Royal Treasure: The Javanese Batik Collection of King Chulalongkorn of Siam

"Everyone involved in this publication has done the collection proud.... I can only describe A Royal Treasure as a dream of a book." - Jonathan Hope, Hali

On each of his three visits to Indonesia, the Thai Monarch King Chulalongkorn returned home to Siam with pieces of handmade Batik. Preserved by the bureau of the Royal household at the Grand Palace since 1910, the year the king passed away, the collection totals over 300 pieces and today provides key documentation of the Batik made in West and Central Java during the second half of the 19th-century, with many rare and beautiful pieces from famous ateliers of the day this exquisite collection was presented to the public for the first time at the Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles in Bangkok in October 2018.

Published to coincide with the exhibition, A Royal Treasure contains a detailed catalog of the collection and is enhanced by rare archival photographs of the King's travels, the original signature notes indicating the name of the pattern and who was allowed to wear it, and the palace inventory tags. Lavishly produced, and written and researched by leading experts in the field, this book is an important contribution to the field of Indonesian textiles and a visual feast for textile lovers worldwide.