The Peacock in Indonesian Batik: From Royal Courts to Modern Design Houses
Native to island Southeast Asia, the peacock appears widely in the textiles, architecture, and decorative art of the region. In Indonesia, it became a striking motif in batik design, appearing in everything from the restricted court patterns of nineteenth-century Yogyakarta and Surakarta to the fashionable textiles of twentieth-century Jakarta.
Join speaker Peter Lee as he traces the stylistic journey of the peacock across Indonesia’s batik traditions.
This talk is organised in conjunction with Peacock Power: Beauty and Symbolism Across Cultures, on view at the Peranakan Museum until 30 August 2026.
About the speaker
Peter Lee is an independent art and heritage consultant and the Founding Curator of the NUS Baba House – a historical house museum managed by the National University of Singapore. He has curated exhibitions related to Singapore and Southeast Asian material culture since 1998, at venues in Singapore and Japan. He is the curatorial advisor for Peacock Power: Beauty and Symbolism Across Cultures, the host of Channel News Asia’s The Mark of Empire, and manages a family collection of textiles and
19th-century photography.
About the moderator
Diane Chee is curator (Peranakan) at the Asian Civilisations Museum and the Peranakan Museum. She worked on the revamp of the Peranakan Museum’s permanent galleries in 2023 and curated the special exhibition Peacock Power: Beauty and Symbolism Across Cultures. Her current research focuses on expressions of Peranakan identity and intangible cultural heritage across Southeast Asia. She holds an MA in Asian Studies from Leiden University, the Netherlands.
Image: Baby carrier (gendongan). Indonesia, Java, 1900s–1920s. Cotton (drawn batik). National Museum of Singapore, G-0599.
