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Japanese Furoshiki With Mandarin Ducks browse these categories for related items... All Items: Vintage Arts:Regional Art:Asian:Japanese:Textiles: Pre 1930: item # 772494 Please refer to our stock # 32-60 when inquiring.
Silk Road Gallery PO Box 2175 Branford, Connecticut 06405, USA (203) 208-0771 Guest Book $95 |
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| A gift cloth with a pert pair of Mandarin ducks from mid 20th century Japan demonstrates the great care given to small things by the Japanese. The simple scene, created with a resist dye technique called katazome, required several hand applications of rice paste and repeated immersions in dye vats. After the outline of the ducks was drawn and filled with resist paste, dyeing built the scene up by steps from the basic shape, adding black detail, then blue detail. The gold that gives sparkle to the fanning feathers was then added by pressing thin metallic leaf into hand drawn lines of rice paste, then whisking away the metallic material that did not adhere to the paste. The small red mark of the maker at lower right probably was inked in as a last step. Cloths of various sizes, used inventively in Japan for centuries, became known as furoshiki during Edo times when they were used to wrap clothing carried to the public baths. Furoshiki means "bath spread." Through the years, use of the cloths has continued to broaden to gift wrapping, bento carrier, place mat and more. This furoshiki most likely wrapped a wedding present because Mandarin ducks, which mate for life, are a favorite symbol in Japan of fidelity and a happy marriage. The fabric is silk faille and is in good condition. Dimensions: length 33" (84 cm), width 15-1/2" (39 cm). | |||||||||
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