A Two Panel Boro Textile: Kasuri Cotton and Wonderful Patches

ca. early to mid twentieth century
68" x 23", 173 cm x 58.5 cm

This two panel boro cloth is an eye dazzler.

The beautiful, cotton base cloth is a brown colored kasuri cloth, delicately yet graphically patterned.  This base is hand stitched from four, separate pieces of cotton, the cotton pieces may have once been a kimono.

But it is the surface of the cloth that it of interest here.  The surface is studded with a fabulous array of hand-applied cotton patches, over thirty in all.  The long, central, light-colored patch is flannel, or what the Japanese call neru, and this cotton fabric, being a foreign import, was once considered exotic and luxurious in old Japan.

The arrangement and variety of cotton patches as they sit on the surface of the piece and as they interplay with each other is a joy to behold.

Along with the other excellent boro pieces being shown today, this one is equally beautiful and holds its own, even in the company of older, more layered boro pieces..

A splendidly handsome old boro cloth.

Recommended.