M.E. Sayers Cheribon & Batavia — Vintage Japanese Matchbox Label Women's Crop Tee | Dutch East Indies Archive

The Story

Two figures in red-dotted kimono robes share a moment , one playing a stringed instrument, the other resting beside a large peony bloom, set against a delicate blue lattice ground. M.E. Sayers & Co. Cheribon & Batavia.

This is one of the most tender and visually refined labels in the entire Ichinichi archive. Commissioned by M.E. Sayers & Co., a trading house operating across Cheribon (present-day Cirebon) and Batavia (present-day Jakarta) in the Dutch East Indies, and printed in Japan with the characteristic flat-color elegance of Meiji-era commercial illustration. The two figures — playful, intimate, surrounded by flowers — were designed to appeal to the Javanese market, rendered through the soft, precise hand of a Japanese engraver who understood that charm sells as well as authority.

The blue lattice background, the hot pink peony, the polka-dot robes: this label is a masterclass in restrained decorative color. On a fitted crop tee it reads like a vintage textile print discovered in a Kyoto secondhand shop — and is equally at home in Jakarta, Amsterdam, or anywhere in between.

Who This Is For

For the woman drawn to Japanese retro aesthetics, Dutch East Indies history, vintage Asian graphic art, and the kind of graphic that feels genuinely found rather than designed. This label lives at the softer, more intimate end of the Ichinichi archive — no roosters or revolvers here, just two figures, a flower, and a hundred years of quiet charm.

The blue and pink palette makes every colorway work differently. Black turns it editorial. Pink wraps the label in its own tones. Natural gives it the feeling of aged paper. White keeps it fresh and graphic.

About the Collection

Every design in the Ichinichi Collection is sourced from a personal archive of original Japanese matchbox labels spanning 1880 to 1940. The M.E. Sayers labels represent the domestic and intimate side of the Dutch East Indies export trade — commercial objects designed to feel welcoming and culturally familiar to the Javanese market, printed in Japan with extraordinary sensitivity to that brief.

Available Colors

• Black — the blue lattice and hot pink peony glow against the dark ground
• Pink — the label's own pink tones bleed softly into the shirt for a dreamy tonal effect
• Natural — aged cream echoes the label's paper ground, like wearing a found vintage print
• White — clean and crisp, the full blue and pink palette hits with maximum clarity

Product Details

• Material: 100% organic cotton
• Weight: 5.9 oz/yd² (200 g/m²) — medium weight, soft and breathable
• Fit: Slim / crop fit — close to body, cropped hem
• Print: Direct-to-Film (DTF) technology
• Label: Tear-away — minimal skin irritation

SIZE GUIDE (inches)

Size tolerance: ±1.00 in across all measurements. Slim fit — size up if you prefer a more relaxed crop.