A Long Piece of Jishiro Katazome: Phoenixes and Paulownia as Roundels
late nineteenth, early twentieth century
69" x 13", 175.25 cm x 33 cm
This is a length of hand spun, hand woven cotton that has been dyed in the katazome method. It is called jishiro katazome because that is the term used for blue-on-white katazome.
It shows a complex repeat pattern of phoenixes and paulownias rendered as roundels. These roundels are set against a busy background of arabesque. There are two faint, coin-sized stains shown in detail photos here: overall they are difficult to see but upon close inspection they are apparent.
The repeat pattern is lively. The mythical phoenix is shown with the paulownia flower because it is on this flower that the magical bird alights.
Beautiful yarns, beautiful pattern, this is a spirited length of good, old cloth.