Vintage Japanese Textile Art

I fell in love with this piece the moment I saw it back in 1992. I discovered it in a little antique shop down the street from where I live while looking for vintage textiles. It emanated this peaceful feeling, and I could picture myself sitting outside one of those cottages listening to the river flowing downstream.

I had no idea how this piece was made until just recently. In the past, I'd shown it to several different hand weavers I knew to see if they could shed some light on the origins or the process of this piece, but none of them had a clue either. And then one day I came across an image from a collector in San Rafael, Ca. It was obviously the same technique.

This piece was made by a Kyoto textiles company, Nishimura Sozaemon. The style and technique, Yuzen Birodo, were first seen at the second National Industrial Exhibition in Tokyo in 1881. It is from the Meiji Period that spanned the years from 1868-1912 in Japan.

The piece is made from handwoven silk that has several raised areas with a velvet like nap. The silk was then hand painted using different pigments. When I purchased this, it was behind glass with the glass pressed flat to the surface of the fabric. The glass should never be touching the fabric as there needs to be an airspace in between the fabric and glass. It was glued to a piece of cardboard, and that is why there is discoloration in some areas from the glue that was used.

I took it to a good local frame shop that specialized in archival framing techniques and had it reframed. I still enjoy seeing this piece every day, and I am happy to finally know a little more about its origins now.