Wood batik ornaments, 'Regal Java Cross' (set of 4)

Handaru Baskoro welcomes the holiday season with Javanese artistic sentiment. He carves the ornaments in the shape of Latin crosses from klepu wood (leichhardt wood). He then adorns them with traditional batik motifs. Two crosses feature the historic parang rusak (meaning "knife" or "dagger"), the motif par excellence of Javanese batik. In olden days, the parang rusak was the exclusive property of the courts of Surakarta and Jogyakarta. Baskoro adorns the other two crosses with the classic kawung motif, featuring an eight-pointed rosette set within a square, rhombus or circle. The kawung used to be reserved for sultans only.