A Very Old Piece of Katazome Dyed Cotton: Hand Spun Yarns

mid nineteenth century
21" x 13", 53.5 cm x 33 cm

This is a fragment of a very old piece of indigo dyed cotton katazome cloth. The cloth itself is exceptional because it is hand spun and hand woven and easily shows the desirable characteristics of both.

Its elaborate pattern of hexagons, sword hilts and multi-patterned folding fans is of great quality both in execution and in design.

The cloth is very faded and somewhat yellowed. There is a faint, hazy stain to the upper-right hand corner, more obvious in photos than in real life. And there is a sharp stain to the center, right edge.

There is evidence that when first made there was an orange color element to the pattern, now quite faded and almost lost.

This fragment is beautiful from its wear and age and, aside from that, it was most certainly made in the late Edo or early Meiji era. 

Really wonderful to look at and to consider; it embodies the artistic spirit of a former age.