Buddhist Vestment (Kesa) Made from a Noh Costume (Karaori) with Autumn Grasses and Butterflies

Buddhist Vestment (Kesa) Made from a Noh Costume (Karaori) with Autumn Grasses and Butterflies

Buddhist Vestment (Kesa) Made from a Noh Costume (Karaori) with Autumn Grasses and Butterflies. Culture: Japan. Dimensions: Overall: 46 1/2 x 79 3/4 in. (118.1 x 202.6 cm). Date: 18th-19th century. Buddhist vestments were often made from donated garments or textiles. Perhaps ironically, this kesa, once used by an old monk, was probably fashioned from a gorgeous eighteenth-century karaori, a type of costume worn by a male actor playing the role of a young woman in a Noh play. Karaori (translated literally as "Chinese weaving") is also the name of a type of multicolored brocaded silk, and this textile has a pattern of butterflies and autumn grasses on a ground of blue and red. The autumn plants all belong to the standard group of seven used in Japanese art and poetry: bush clover (hagi); Chinese bellflower (kikyo); miscanthus grass (obana); "purple trousers" flower (fujibakama); large pink (nadeshiko); pampas grass (susuki), and valerian, sometimes called maiden flower (ominaeshi).

Twill-weave silk brocaded with silk and metallic thread

Edo period (1615-1868)

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA

Album / Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY

Model: No - Property: No
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4400 x 2583 px | 32.5 MB

37.3 x 21.9 cm | 14.7 x 8.6 in (300 dpi)