A Length of Jishiro Katazome: Blue on White
ca. late nineteenth century
34" x 13", 86.5 cm x 33 cm
What a lovely, graphic length of high-contrast katazome dyed cotton cloth.
The motif of this cloth is boldly rendered. The background is a repeat diamond motif with a stylized
chrysanthemum at each point of intersection. Inside each diamond is
large, graphically designed motif called melon or mokko.
This is an old piece and it has been used hard as can be seen by the tears and loss to the piece which have been documented and shown on the accompanying photos. As well, note that there is one applied patch which can be easily seen on the back of the cloth, also documented here.
What is unusual about this length is the little congregation of solidified, cooked rice that is basically glued to the surface of this cloth by nature of its natural starch. We are not sure how this lump of old rice found its way to this futon cover fragment, but we left it as a reminder of the wear that this piece received by the family who once owned it.
Although there has been wear to this rustic piece of katazome cotton cloth, the overall effect is one of freshness and vigor, and this is a wonderful length of stencil resist cotton.
Beautiful.