A Length of Katazome Dyed Cotton: Bold Images and Soft Details.

late nineteenth, early twentieth century
25 1/4" x 12 1/2", 64 cm x 31.75 cm

This is an length of indigo dyed katazome cotton that shows an unusual pattern that is made of bold, white, splotchy images against a background of delicately rendered, stepped motifs.

The striking white blotches show snowflakes and birds: the birds as rendered are hard to identify but they could be sparrows. The pointillist design on the steps behind these images seem to contain images of bamboo leaves and very possibly, but not certainly, Daruma.

The triangles made of triangles are abstractions of fish scales, a popular Japanese design motif.

The indigo dye is still very, very deep and sapphire-like and the contrast of such heavy, white images against such subtle ones in the background is unusual and inspired.