A Wide Sliver from a Boro Futon Cover: Old Cottons

late nineteenth, early twentieth century
14" x 40 3/4", 35.5 cm x 103.5 cm

This textile is a section of old, indigo dyed cotton boro cloth that was taken from a futon cover.

The cloth itself is old and the piece has all the characteristics of very good boro that you would like to see: nice, old, hand spun, hand woven cotton, layers of patches and good stitching.

The color tones are close in value and rather dark overall but what you see when looking at both sides is a good deal of subtle variation of pattern and surface.

This is a really, really lovely section of what must have been a rustic, boro futon cover with very good age, definitely dating to the Meiji era (1868-1912).