A Boro Panel: Central Patch of Zanshi Ori Weaving

early twentieth century
67" x 13 1/2", 170 cm x 34.25 cm

This is a lovely length of indigo dyed cotton boro cloth which features at its center a swath of zanshi ori cotton, or cloth woven from left over yarns.

Have a look at the photos here to see that one large patch in the center of the length shows a color shift in the weaving of it: it goes from narrow, tonal blue stripes to a passage of "white," showing that left over white-colored yarns were used on the weft, thus creating this color change. Really lovely.

The entire length is about two layers thick because the patches we see here on the face of the cloth are all applied to an indigo dyed base. The top layer shows about eight patches of various sizes and all the cotton seems to be of the same age.

This is a very handsome boro cloth with quite old cottons, all hand woven.

Recommended.