About This Artwork

Japan

Fukusa (Gift Cover), mid-Meiji period (1868–1912), c. 1895

Patterned side: silk, plain weave (shioze); dye extracted though a discharge dyeing technique and chemical dye stripper (bassen) and painted with India ink (sumi); embroidered with silk and gold-leaf-on-lacquered-paper-strip-wrapped silk, laidwork and couching; lined with silk, ink and stamped with ink; sewn with front and lining matched in size (Tachikiri awase); silk, running "controlling" stitches along all edges; corners: gold-leaf-over-lacquered-
paper-strip-wrapped cotton, knotted and replied fringe tassels
76.8 x 66.1 cm (30 1/4 x 26 in.)
Gift of Mary V. and Ralph E. Hays, 2001.222

Exhibition, Publication and Ownership Histories

Exhibition History

The Art Institute of Chicago, Elizabeth F. Cheney and Agnes Allerton Textile Galleries, "Fukusa and Furoshiki: Splendid Japanese Gift Covers and Wrapping Cloths," July 17–November 17, 2002

Publication History

Akihiko Takemura. Fukusa, Japanese Gift Covers. (Tokyo: Iwasaki Bijutsu-sha, 1991), pp. 35, 178-180, pl. 44.

Ownership History

Acquired by Hays: June 13, 1987. yokoyama Inc., Kyoto.