Furisode
late Edo period (1789–1868), 1801/1868
- Medium
- Silk, 4:1 satin damask weave (rinzu); embroidered with silk and gold-leaf-over-lacquered-paper-strip-wrapped silk in satin stitches; laid work and couching, and padded couching; lined with silk, plain weave
- Classification
- Textile
- Dimensions
- 183.8 × 128.8 cm (72 1/4 × 50 3/4 in.) Shoulder to hem length: 105.9 cm (41 3/4 in.) Sleeve length: 86.4 cm (34 in.) Collar back to hem length: 7.6 cm (3 in.) Width at hem: 62.5 cm (24 5/8 in.) Width of sleeve panel: 32.7 cm (12 7/8 in.)…
- Culture
- Japan
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Textiles
- Credit line
- Gift of Gaylord Donnelley in memory of Frances Gaylord Smith
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Little Ones profiles and older: it shows gentle subjects for the very young. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
This furisode, a long-sleeved garment worn by children and unmarried women on special occasions, belonged to a family whose crest was the tachibana, the flower of the Mandarin orange. Made of rinzu (a soft, lustrous silk), it probably was used as an uchikake (outer coat). The red fabric is woven in a pattern that combines geometric and floral forms. A blossoming plum tree embroidered with gold and white silk thread spreads its branches from hem to shoulder. The carefully embroidered blooming tree shows the influence of Western art on Japanese design. Needlework typical of this period was used to portray illusionistically the contours of the tree trunk. First the edges of the trunk were padded with a heavy thread; then, over this padding, gold-wrapped thread was couched with red silk thread.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
