A Very Handsomely Realized Tsutsugaki Textile: Seven Family Crests

early twentieth century
38 1/2" x 58", 98 cm x 147.5 cm

This interestingly designed tsutsugaki cloth is hand stitched from three panels and shows a total of seven mon or family crests.

Textiles of this proportion and size are generally used as a futon cover, but in this case, because the family crests are oriented in horizontal, not vertical, format (as they would be were it a futon cover), we are left to wonder if this indeed was futon cover or if it was intended to be a yutan (furniture cover) or something else.

No matter, the cloth is just beautiful for its spare yet complex design.

Each of the mon depicted is drawn with great assurance and certainly was done by a master of this technique. In order to get such perfect circles and strong, unwavering lines as we see here, one needs years of practice. 

The mon are all very clean in their rendering and they provide brightness to this deeply toned indigo cloth which is in very good, (barely, if ever) used condition. The cotton is of good quality and appears to be hand spun and hand woven.

This is an extremely good looking tsutsugaki textile and one with a great deal of visual interest.

Recommended.