A Beautifully Pieced Silk Juban: Gorgeous Arrangement of Fragments

early twentieth century
50" x 25 1/2", 127 cm x 62 cm

This beautiful garment is a silk juban which is an under kimono. This one has been hand stitched from many scraps of colored, lightweight silk. The bodice of the garment is particularly exuberant with vertically-oriented fragments of old silks and the arrangement if these colorful silk pieces is delightfully artful as is easily seen.

The sleeves of the garment are missing and if you look carefully at the detail photos that accompany this post you will notice there is some bleeding of red dye on the front of the juban, particularly on the proper, front left side. As well there are some slight tears and 

However, the bodice part of the juban is of particularly high visual interest--even the collar portion is segmented in small pieces using tones of color that add to the overall artfulness.

Pieced juban of this type were common in old Japan: the riotous color and pattern combination often seen on these was for the enjoyment of the wearer--often their kimono were of dark and somber tones so this playful, bright under garment was a secret foil to the dark outer garment.

A beautiful piece of unintended artistry.

Recommended.