A Layered and Colorful Boro Textile: Vibrantly Patterned Cloth

mid twentieth century
53" x 34", 134.5 cm x 86 cm

This good sized boro textile is composed of at least two layers of cotton in some areas while most of the area of this piece is about three or more layers thick.

As is fairly obvious from first glance, this boro cloth is composed of many commercially produced cottons, most notably the large, blue and white cottons printed with the swirling, interlocking ellipses.  Boro mats like this, presumably a sleeping mat of some sort, were hand stitched well into the mid twentieth century, as this one was.

The artistic spirit in this piece is wonderful and buoyant.  

The mixture of pattern-on-pattern, each of them inharmonious with one another, lends a lighthearted feeling to the piece. Both sides are similarly playful and each contains fragments of cotton that show some abrasion from wear over time, not at all unusual for boro cloth of this type.

As mentioned above, this mat is somewhat heavy due to its layers, and overall it conveys a good natured, artistic spirit.

Recommended.