A Large Recycled Cotton Futon Cover: Tsutsugaki Crest, Butterflies, Waves

**reduced from $395.00**
early twentieth century
65" x 52 1/2", 165 cm x 133.5 cm

This tsutsugaki dyed futon cover is boldly and sparsely decorated with elaborately detailed designs.

In the center of the cloth we see a family crest that is composed of three, fully extended folding fans configured as a circle.

At the bottom of the cloth, left and right, we see two wildly detailed butterflies, the one on the right being coaxed into flight by the breeze produced by an ocean wave. 

The cotton of this futon is fairly lightweight and seems to be machine woven.

The futon cover itself is hand stitched from nine pieces.

Above the crest we see a mended hole which indicates that prior to this cloth being a futon cover it was once a kimono-shaped duvet that has been reconfigured to become the shape it is now. Within the crest, too, we see an obvious patched mend. Please note the discoloration to the crest as it appears on images here is a bit overstated.

The dramatic effect of this design is wonderful to see as it the always-quirky Japanese depictions of butterflies: butterflies' faces are always shown quite clearly (as they are here) which is something odd yet wonderful to look at.

Just beautiful.