Patchwork quilt cover

Quilt cover hand-stitched together from fragments of used cotton textiles–a practice in the Tohoku region of northeast Japan, where it is too cold for growing cotton, and rags were bought from peddlers coming from the south to be reused. The fragments in this quilt include unusual choices: a “Tengu Flour” bag, a flag or door curtain bearing a stencil-dyed crest, and a fragment previously used to wrap a package mailed to Date county, Fukushima prefecture.

Historical period(s)
Meiji, Taisho, or Showa era, early 20th century
Medium
Cotton
Dimensions
H x W: 141.5 × 121.5 cm (55 11/16 × 47 13/16 in)
Geography
Japan, Tohoku
Credit Line
Gift of the Jeffrey Krauss Collection of Japanese Textiles
Collection
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
Accession Number
S2016.4
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Costume and Textile
Type

Textile

Keywords
Japan, Meiji era (1868 - 1912), Showa era (1926 - 1989), Taisho era (1912 - 1926)
Provenance
Provenance research underway.
Description

Quilt cover hand-stitched together from fragments of used cotton textiles--a practice in the Tohoku region of northeast Japan, where it is too cold for growing cotton, and rags were bought from peddlers coming from the south to be reused. The fragments in this quilt include unusual choices: a "Tengu Flour" bag, a flag or door curtain bearing a stencil-dyed crest, and a fragment previously used to wrap a package mailed to Date county, Fukushima prefecture.

Collection Area(s)
Japanese Art
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