Woman's Aigi (Inner Robe)
Edo period (1789–1868), late 1700s
- Medium
- Silk, satin damask weave; tye dyed; lining: silk, plain weave
- Classification
- Textile
- Culture
- Japan
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Textiles
- Credit line
- Oriental Department Sundry Trust
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
This white design on a red background was created by tying portions of the white silk fabric into tiny knots that resisted the red dye. Here, the tying creates a pattern of tea plant blossoms floating on stylized currents of water. Producing such an intricate pattern was labor intensive and costly. The use of the color red for inner robes and linings has a long history in Japan, where the flash of a woman’s undergarment or lining is considered enticing.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
