Cirebon (formerly referred to as Cheribon in English) is a port city on the north coast of the Indonesian island of Java. It is located in the province of West Java near the provincial border with Central Java, approximately 297 km east of Jakarta.According to the manuscript Purwaka Caruban Nagari, in 15th century Cirebon started as a small fishing village named Muara Jati. At that time the port of Muara Jati has already attracted many foreign traders. Located in coastal area and have one of busiest harbor in west java, there has been culture assimilation going on in Cirebon for very long time and it is indeed affected in development of local culture including batik.
The story of Batik Cirebon started from the reign of Sunan Gunung jati. Cirebon under the reign of Sunan Gunung Jati is the oldest center of Islamic kingdom in Java and an important port for trade routes from Persia, India, Arabia, Europe and China. It is told that Sunan Gunung Jati married a Chinese princess name Ong Tie. The wife of Sunan Gunung jati is very concerned about art esspecially ceramic. The motif on ceramic tiles that she brought from China is then ultimately affect batik motifs as a cultural blend between Cirebon and Chinese.
If the batik motifs inspiration comes from Princess Ong Tie, the development of batik Cirebon cannot be separated from the role of Ki Gede Trusmi, a loyal follower of Sunan Gunung Jati who teaches the art of batik as he preach about Islam. Batik Cirebon has been classified as one of coastal batik in Indonesia, however batik Cirebon has its own character that differs from other batik in the coastal area in Indonesia (i.e batik pekalongan, batik tegalan, etc). Batik Cirebon has strong character mainly in colouring technique. Batik Cirebon is famous with its colorful color in its batik. The color is very attractive like red, blue, yellow, like no other batik.
Classic design of batik Cirebon belongs to Cirebon Palace including the most famous motif mega mendung motif that inspired by the Chinese culture, other classic design is Paksinaga Liman, Patran Keris, Singa Payung (Lion Umbrella), SInga Barong (Lion Barong), Banjar Balong, Ayam Alas(Chicken) etc. Other contemporary motif design of batik Cirebon such as batik kompeni that inspired by the colonialism era, buketan motif (flower), animal motifs like birds, butterfly and elephant is also including the character of batik Cirebon.
Since the development of batik Cirebon has been grow fast because of Ki Gede Trusmi, it is can be found that batik production center has been grow in the area of Trusmi village until today.
BATIK OKTI 