An Absolutely Beautiful Length of Hand Spun, Hand Woven Cotton Cloth: Plaid

late nineteenth, early twentieth century
72" x 14", 183 cm x 35.5 cm

This extremely handsome, good-sized length of hand spun, hand woven cotton plaid shows a much greater depth and nuance of color than is illustrated in these photos.

The colors are clearer and more shaded on the real thing: missing is a kind of jade green striping in the dull maize that forms the basic grid of the design. The dark squares are really deep, velvety blue in real life.

It is such a shame that the real item cannot be accurately described for you here, but often is the case that something must be seen in person to be fully appreciated.

Plaids were popular in Japan from the highest class to the lowliest and as such there is infinite variety of scale, size, color and mood.

This one was taken from a futon cover and for the reason it would never see the light of day and would only be appreciated indoors by a private family the scale of the plaid is large, the color values are contrasting and the color tones work harmoniously in opposition.

It is a beautiful plaid with great thread integrity, too.