A Length of Floral Patterned Katazome Cotton: Indian Inspired

late nineteenth, early twentieth century
36" x 13", 91.5 cm x 33 cm

The beauty of this length of complex patterned, indigo dyed katazome cotton rests not just in its intricate, Indian-inspired pattern but also for the hand spun cotton yarns that were used to weave this length of old cloth.

The pattern itself is a repeat of fantasy flowers, the kind you might find on Indian or Persian cloth, but re-imagined in a Japanese sort of way.

The indigo dye is still deep and rich and by looking carefully you can see there are highlighted areas or orange tone, now faded.

The pattern is exotic and it references the Japanese interest in foreign cloth and calls to mind the Japanese esteem for the export cloth of India.

Beautiful.