A Length of Large Scale Cranes as Katazome: Rich Pattern

early twentieth century
36 1/2" x 13", 92.5 cm x 33 cm

This wonderful length of katazome dyed cloth shows a large repeat pattern of flying cranes against a background of large-scale karakusa or arabesque. The cranes carry a rolled scroll in their beaks, an allusion to the literary and poetic arts.

The tone of the cloth is rich from the four hues: deep indigo, undyed white, a kind of rust/mustard tone and some lowlights done in a black applied dye.

The bottom of the length shows a white rectangle on the right hand side--this shows that this length was taken from the end of a bolt as details of the cloth would have been written in this white, undyed area.

A glorious pattern and a spirited one.