My guess on age is probably around 1890-1930. This is only a guess, it is not based on any special knowledge, only on the apparent age from the photo, and on similar ones I've seen.
Yeah Rick, quality does vary enormously with these, and really nice ones are scarce, but I believe all except the very obviously recent, ie, post 1980, would date from pre-1940.
I've seen people theorise that this style of dress was produced specifically for Dutch souvenir hunters. I've never heard this in Jawa or Madura, but from European and American collectors.
They might be right. I don't know. But I do know this:- in the Sumenep area of Madura there is an immense variation in wrongko styles, things that I would categorise as folk art, and these appear to be legitimate local styles, not something that was done for the souvenir market.
I personally don't back the souvenir for the Dutch theory my feeling is that this style was just another local Madura style that was popular for a while, then dropped from favour.
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