A 19th Century Fly Away Weight Boro Silk Piece: Safflower Dye

late nineteenth century
52" x 12 1/2", 132 cm x 31.5 cm

This beautifully colored, patched and mended silk piece is taken from the lining of a yose juban, a pieced undergarment which was a typical undergarment worn by women in old Japan.

The silk is extremely lightweight and thin; there is very little body to it, and it will literally flutter in the breeze.  

The long, orange, tone-on-tone piece is dyed in safflower or benibana as it is known in Japan, and it is pieced together from several fragments, each fragment is hand stitched and there is some hamp thread used to stitch some of the pieces together.

A vibrantly colored length of old silk, this is a wonderful textile study piece from old Japan.