茶浅葱段秋草蝶模様唐織袈裟|Buddhist Vestment (Kesa) Made from a Noh Costume (Karaori) with Autumn Grasses and Butterflies

Unknown

18th–19th century · Twill-weave silk brocaded with silk and metallic thread · Asian Art

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 (kikyō); miscanthus grass (obana); “purple trousers” flower (fujibakama); large pink (nadeshiko); pampas grass (susuki), and valerian, sometimes called maiden flower (ominaeshi).

Artist

Unknown

Date

18th–19th century

Medium

Twill-weave silk brocaded with silk and metallic thread

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1919