Over Robe (Uchikake) with Design of Bamboo Blinds, Curtain Screens, Decorative Fans, and Auspicous Motifs

Japan

Not on view

The stylized clouds, bamboo blinds (misu), minutely decorated curtain screens (kichō), and elaborate fans adorned with colorful strings (hiōgi) evoke the golden age of the Heian period (794–1185) court. This type of decorative pattern became fashionable during the second half of the Edo period (1615–1868) among wealthy chōnin ladies. It continued to be popular in an altered form into the early twentieth century, with vivid green becoming a favored ground color from the 1910s to 1930s, although there are examples in red and black. The over robe is covered in auspicious motifs. Among the skillfully rendered details are the translucency of the bamboo blinds, the ornamental patterns of the curtain screen, and the individual designs of the fans at the bottom of the robe, which emulate in silk, dyes, and gold leaf the decoration found on paper fans.

Over Robe (Uchikake) with Design of Bamboo Blinds, Curtain Screens, Decorative Fans, and Auspicous Motifs, Resist-dyed, painted, and embroidered plain-weave silk, Japan

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Over Robe (Uchikake) with Design of Bamboo Blinds, Curtain Screens, Decorative Fans, and Auspicous Motifs, Resist-dyed, painted, and embroidered plain-weave silk, Japan
Over Robe (Uchikake) with Design of Bamboo Blinds, Curtain Screens, Decorative Fans, and Auspicous Motifs, Resist-dyed, painted, and embroidered plain-weave silk, Japan

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