Auspicious Designs: Batik for Peranakan Altars

by Peter H. Lee

This catalogue focuses on a group of 72 batik altar cloths recently donated to the Peranakan Museum. Families traditionally used embroidered cloths made in southern China, but in the early 20th century, the cloths began to be made of Javanese batik. Essays by Peter Lee, discussing the use and historical context of altar cloths in Southeast Asia, and by Fiona Kerlogue, on the significance of the designs on the cloths, complement beautifully illustrated entries on each cloth.

139 pages, Paperback

Published July 31, 2015

About the author

Peter H. Lee (1929-) was born in Seoul, Korea. He received his B.A. from the College of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, and his M.A. from Yale in 1953. Lee went on to study various languages and comparative literatures at universities in Switzerland, Italy, England and Munich, Germany, where he earned his Ph.D. from Ludwig-Maximilian University in 1958. After holding positions at Columbia, Hawaii, and UC Berkeley, Lee came to UCLA in 1987 to begin his distinguished teaching career in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures as a professor of Korean and comparative literature. Professor Lee is an academic pioneer, credited with single-handedly developing the field of Korean literature, especially in a comparative context, in the West. He is the author of 16 books and numerous articles.

(from http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:...)