Threads of Silk and Gold: Ornamental Textiles from Meiji Japan
(from 9th Nov 2012 until 27th Jan 2013)Discover exquisite embroideries, dyed silk and velvet panels, tapestries, and appliqué works
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Screen with peacock and peahen
- loan
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Description
This screen was almost certainly made for an exhibition, with its spectacular design, outstanding needlework, and complementary frieze of peacock feathers on the base of the lacquer frame. With the gold feathers set off against the dark background, the entire screen looks like a piece of maki-e lacquer ware. It was probably made by the leading Kyoto silk manufacturer Nishimura Sōzaemon. (Exhibition number 21)
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Details
- Associated place
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Asia › Japan › Honshū › Kyōto prefecture › Kyoto › Muromachi Suji (probable place of creation)
- Date
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1900 - c. 1910
Meiji Period (1868 - 1912)
- Artist/maker
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probably Nishimura Sōzaemon (established c. 1670)
- Material and technique
- silk, dyed black, and embroidered with coloured silk, flat silk, paper-backed gold foil wrapped around a silk or cotton core, and gold thread; wooden frame, covered in black lacquer, with maki-e lacquer decoration
- Dimensions
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open 172 x 264 x 3 cm max. (height x width x depth)
closed 172 x 66.3 x 12.8 cm (height x width x depth)
each panel 172 x 66.3 x 3 cm (height x width x depth)
each panel, textile 139 x 58.3 cm (height x width)
- Material index
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organic › animal › animal product › silk,processed material › metal › gold,
- Technique index
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dyed,
- Object type index
- No. of items
- 1
- Credit line
- Lent by the Kiyomizu Sannenzaka Museum.
- Accession no.
- LI1956.21
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Further reading
Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 9 November 2012-27 January 2013, Threads of Silk and Gold: Ornamental Textiles from Meiji Japan, Clare Pollard, ed. (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2012), no. 21 p. 126, p. 27, cover & pp.124-129
Glossary (2)
lacquer, maki-e
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lacquer
Chinese and Japanese lacquer is made from the sap of the lacquer tree, which is indigenous to Eastern China. It is applied to wood as a varnish or for decorative effect. In India and the Middle East, lacquer is made from the deposit of the lac insect.
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maki-e
(‘sprinkled design’) generic term for lacquer decoration using powdered metals sprinkled onto wet lacquer to create a design
Past Exhibition
see (1)-
Threads of Silk and Gold: Ornamental Textiles from Meiji Japan
(from 9th Nov 2012 until 27th Jan 2013)
Location
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- returned to owner
Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.
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Notice
Objects from past exhibitions may have now returned to our stores or a lender. Click into an individual object record to confirm whether or not an object is currently on display. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis, so please contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular Eastern Art object.
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