Hand resist dyed (batik), cotton cloth. Indonesia, 20th century (TRC 2023.0573).In December 2022 we announced the sad news of the death in Leiden of the well-known, Dutch textile curator and historian, Rens Heringa (1932-2022).

As noted, Rens grew up in Twente among textile producers, and from the early 1950s lived for many years in Indonesia. She has long been a grande dame in the field of Indonesian textiles and Indonesian batiks in particular.

Over the years Rens has helped the TRC with textiles, advice and suggestions with respect to its Indonesian textile collection, and although Rens is no longer around, her connections with the TRC continue.

To our surprise it turned out that Rens had included the TRC in her will. Last week we picked up 55 Asian textiles and garments, including Bangladesh, Indian, Indonesian, Thai and Philippine examples, as well as one West African piece (TRC 2023.0553 - TRC 2023.0606).

Long women's blouse (kebaya) in a pale yellow chiffon, machine embroidered, Indonesia, 20th century (TRC 2023.0554).These textiles represent a variety of techniques, notably batiks, ikats, decoratively woven as well as embroidered items.

In addition, there are eleven blouses (kebaya) from Indonesia that are decorated with batik, (machine) embroidery and beads.

All of these textiles and garments are currently being photographed and put online in the TRC Collection with the text “Rens Heringa bequest”. They will be online by the end of this week.

Shoulder cloth with printed decoration, imitation of songket cloth from Lombok, Indonesia, 20th century (TRC 2023.0572b).

In addition, there were over thirty books about Asian textiles, in particular about Indonesian textiles and dress. They will be added to the TRC Library over the next few weeks.

Some of the books donated to the TRC, part of Rens Heringa's bequest.

We would like to thank Rens for her generosity and thoughtfulness, it is appreciated.

Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood, 1 May 2023.