A Length of Grey Blue Katazome: Faded Peonies

early twentieth century
67" x 13 3/4", 170 cm x 35 cm

This is a length of tightly woven, quite durable cotton that has been katazome dyed in a pattern of delicately portrayed peonies against a field of arabesque and a background of sparkling, white dots.

The blue of the indigo has oxidized to a dull greyish tone and there are stencil applied highlights to the centers of flowers that have faded to a faint ochre tone.

The cloth is in good, used condition and shows wear and fading from age, not surprising for such an old length of cotton that was once used as bedding over a hundred years ago.

One of the nice things about this cloth, aside from its attractive pattern, is its rather generous length. 

This is a nice piece of old cloth and one that certainly will inspire thoughts of its origin and other beautiful aspects of Japanese culture.