A Panel from a Tsutsugaki Furoshiki: Tea Implements

ca. late nineteenth century
48" x 13", 122 cm x 33 cm

This dark beauty is one panel from a tsutsugaki furoshiki, or a hand resist dyed traditional wrapping cloth.

Down the length of this panel you will see the vestige of four hand-resist dyed images which relate to tea culture: a feather fan, a porcelain tea cup, a kind of specialized chop sticks and a bamboo whisk.  Time, age and wear have obscured the original, dyed images but what is left is a kind of ghost of the past, which beautifully evokes the age of the piece as well as another era.

There are three patches hand stitched to this deep, indigo dyed length, some surface abrasion and patina, and a few, small nicks and holes.

A lovely thing.