Gift Cover thumbnail 1
Not currently on display at the V&A

Gift Cover

mid 19th century (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This textile cover is called a ‘fukusa’. Traditionally in Japan, gifts were placed in a box on a tray, over which a fukusa was draped. The choice of a fukusa appropriate to the occasion was an important part of the gift-giving ritual. The richness of the decoration was an indication of the donor’s wealth, and the quality of the design evidence of his or her taste and sensibility. These two lobsters represent Izanagi-no-mikoto and Izanami-no-mikoto, the two gods enshrined at Ise, Japan's most important Shintô shrine.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Satin silk, with embroidery in silk thread
Brief description
Embroidered textile to cover a gift, known as a fukusa , with decoration of two lobsters, Japan, 1825-1875
Physical description
Satin silk with embroidered decoration of two lobsters
Dimensions
  • Length: 75.5cm
  • Width: 69cm
Gallery label
British Galleries: In the late Victorian period it was very fashionable to decorate the home with Japanese objects. Textiles such as this, which would have been used in Japan to cover a gift, were particularly popular. The striking lobster design would have seemed very exotic to the British public.
Object history
Purchased from Charles William Deschamps (1A Old Bond Street), accessioned in 1884. This acquisition information reflects that found in the Asia Department registers, as part of a 2022 provenance research project.
This object is one of a group of Japanese textiles sold to the museum by Charles William Deschamps. He was a well-known dealer, mostly of contemporary paintings by artists such as Whistler, with a gallery a 1A Bond Street
Summary
This textile cover is called a ‘fukusa’. Traditionally in Japan, gifts were placed in a box on a tray, over which a fukusa was draped. The choice of a fukusa appropriate to the occasion was an important part of the gift-giving ritual. The richness of the decoration was an indication of the donor’s wealth, and the quality of the design evidence of his or her taste and sensibility. These two lobsters represent Izanagi-no-mikoto and Izanami-no-mikoto, the two gods enshrined at Ise, Japan's most important Shintô shrine.
Collection
Accession number
81-1884

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Record createdFebruary 24, 2003
Record URL
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