Art Institute of Chicago

Fragment of a Kimono

Japan

Date

Edo period (1615–1868), 1675-1725

Medium

Silk, twill damask weave; embroidered with silk and gilded-lacquered-paper-strip-wrapped cotton in satin stitches and laid work and couching; stenciled; mounted on paper, inscribed in ink

Culture

Japan

Department

Textiles

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

This fragment combines three different methods of patterning: weaving, dyeing, and embroidery. No single technique overpowers the others, creating a harmonious whole. While the beauty of the decoration and colors can still be appreciated in the textile’s fragmentary state, the precise meaning of the embroidered character in the center has been lost: It cannot be interpreted because it has been separated from the rest of the textile and, therefore, the rest of the text.

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