A Square of Thickly Woven Hemp Cloth: Traditional Steaming Textile

early twentieth century
21 1/2" x 23", 54.5 cm x 58.5 cm 

This rustically woven, undyed and hand plied hemp or bast fiber cloth was used for steaming in the preparation of food. This type of cloth was placed over a pot in order to catch steam and to prevent it from forming droplets that would fall into the cooking food.

The darkened area in the center of the cloth is the part that sustained repeated wear and therefore it is stained from constant exposure to heat and vapor.

From this you can see that the cloth has been used hard and do note a few areas of loss and repair, shown on the accompanying detail photos.

As well have a look at the close-up detail of the cloth in order to see the hand plied, twisted yarns that were used in weaving this.

This is a simply beautiful old textile from Japan that clearly shows that the power of happenstance is sometimes is a force that creates unintended beauty.

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