A Kimono Sleeve: Hand Painted Pine Trees

early twentieth century
52" x 13 1/2", 132 cm x 34 cm

This length of resisted and hand painted cotton is stitched from two pieces. The fact that the images are positioned as they are indicates that this was once a sleeve--more than likely it was a sleeve taken from an oversized kimono-shaped duvet called a yogi.

The technique for rendering the pine branches could be called yuzen dyeing.

This method resists an area of cloth from dye and then to this blank space left by the resist, details are hand tinted or hand painted into the blank much like we see here.

The dark background that surrounds the pine branches is a deep blue color that reads as black. This provides a stark and beautiful visual context for the sparely-depicted, single pine branches.

Some scuffing from wear and in used condition, this is a lovely length which, if you would like, can easily be separated into two, distinct pieces simply by undoing the center seam.