The Horniman Museum will be closed from 24-26 December. The Horniman Gardens will be closed 25 December only.
Square piece of batik cloth depicting Bima, a character from the Mahabharata with his characteristic long nails, wrestling with a 'naga', a type of serpent. The ground is divided diagonally into a red and blue section. The textile has been waxed on both sides. The white border pattern is a variant of the 'parang rusak' design, the design historically only worn by royalty, but which now has come to symbolise central Javanese ethnicity. An item for the tourist trade.
These objects are only a part of our collections, of which there are more than 350,000 objects. This information comes from our collections database. Some of this is incomplete and there may be errors. This part of the website is also still under construction, so there may be some fields repeated or incorrectly formatted information.
The database sometimes uses language taken from historical documents to help research, which may now appear outdated and even offensive. The database also includes information on objects that are considered secret or sacred by some communities.
If you have any further information about objects in our collections or can suggest corrections to our information, please contact us: enquiry@horniman.ac.uk
