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Kimono

1912-1926 (made)
Artist/Maker
Unknown (made)
Place of origin
Japan (made)

This beautiful garment bears the autumnal motif of rabbits playing among flowers and grasses by the light of a moon which shines softly down from the shoulder of the garment. The design has been created using a free-hand resist dyeing technique with special touches, such as the faces and ears of the rabbits, executed in silk embroidery. The ground fabric has been woven with a motif of clouds to suggest a night sky. This kimono may have been worn by a geisha.

Object details

Categories
Clothing
Fashion
Object type
Kimono
Materials and techniques
Figured crepe, resist-dyeing, embroidery
Silk
Brief description
Tex, Japan, resist-dyed, unlined kimono with motif of rabbits, Taishō period
Physical description
Unlined kimono (hitoe) of figured crepe silk (mon chirimen) with freehand resist dyed (yūzen) and embroidered decoration of rabbits among flowers.
Dimensions
  • Height: 4in
  • Width: 4in
Gallery label
(04/11/2015)
Kimono for a woman
1912–26

This kimono may have been worn by a geisha. It features the autumnal motif of rabbits playing among grasses by the light of the moon, which shines softly down from the shoulder. The design was created using yūzen free-hand resist-dyeing with special touches, such as the faces and ears of the rabbits, executed in embroidery.

Figured crêpe silk with free-hand resist dyeing (yūzen); embroidery in silk and metal-wrapped threads
Museum no. FE.23-2014
Summary
This beautiful garment bears the autumnal motif of rabbits playing among flowers and grasses by the light of a moon which shines softly down from the shoulder of the garment. The design has been created using a free-hand resist dyeing technique with special touches, such as the faces and ears of the rabbits, executed in silk embroidery. The ground fabric has been woven with a motif of clouds to suggest a night sky. This kimono may have been worn by a geisha.
Collection
East Asia Collection
Accession number
FE.23-2014

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Record createdMarch 6, 2014
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1285085/kimono-unknown/
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