A Complex and Beautiful Boro Panel: Zanshi and Changing Warp

early to mid twentieth century
50" x 38", 127 cm x 96.5 cm

This boro cotton textile is hand stitched from three panels of cotton and it is a real hodgepodge of stripes, patterns and patches.

Aside from the exuberant patching which is evident and made more so by the various sizes and scale changes of the patches themselves, the left hand side of the textile shows very interesting details.

The top left has a passage of zanshi or left over thread weaving; following the stripes downward you can see there is an area of cloth where the warp suddenly changes and two distinct types of stripes meet, rather suddenly, in a kind of old Japanese textile mash up. Just beautiful.

The overall color tone of the boro panel is lovely if not a bit faded, which is to be expected.

Still, this is a wonderful and excitingly fresh looking boro cloth with a lot of wonderful visual details.

Beautiful.

Recommended.