A Good Fragment of Old Shibori: Hand Spun Cotton

ca. late nineteenth, early twentieth century
23" x 13", 58.5 cm x 33 cm

What a beautiful piece of old shibori.  This blue-on-white shibori, dyed on hand loomed cotton, is sophisticated, and for dyers out there, you can immediately understand why: this cotton piece was submerged in a dye vat, so the white areas of this pattern were ingeniously tucked away to resist contact with the indigo dye, allowing only the blue areas of the pattern to drink in the dye.  Quite remarkable.

The pattern is that of yanagi or willow that at bottom morphs into a zig-zag of shirokage or white shadow shibori.  Just lovely.

The cloth itself shows wear to the surface and just a bit of scuffing, the wear can be seen especially in one area where there is a small area of threadbare cloth, shown in the accompanying photos.

A little jewel of shibori dyeing, recommended.