A Large Scale Check Boro Panel: Beautifully Colored

ca. late nineteenth, early twentieth century
64" x 12 3/4", 162.5 cm x 32.5 cm

The cotton base cloth of this panel from a futon cover is a wonderfully good, large scale check pattern.  Its tones of blue color are clear, strong and bright, and the white lines that intersect the blues are strong, vivid and graphic.  The plaid is very handsome indeed.

The dozen or so patches hand stitched to the cotton base cloth add visual interest to the piece, and they also show how carefully women in old Japan tended their hand loomed cloth: the patches are often applied before the cloth gives way, as a sort of preventative measure, to insure a long life for the cotton.

This is a dazzlingly good piece of plaid cotton, and a very interesting boro textile.

Recommended.