Kesa (18th century, Edo period (1615–1868)): Artwork and History

Kesa (18th century, Edo period (1615–1868)) is in the Art Institute of Chicago collection. The museum lists its creator attribution as Japan.

The work and its context

The Art Institute of Chicago describes the work:

During the kesa's early history, the design of the garment was highly codified, based upon the standards and practices of individual sects. But during the Edo period, when Japan essentially closed its borders and artists looked inward for inspiration, innovations were introduced that challenged this rigid tradition. The columns of patches universal to kesas were now occasionally inferred by motifs that created the desired impression, such as lines drawn on the surface of the uncut fabric or, as here, the addition of cording, now incomplete owing to wear.

Object facts

• Title: Kesa
• Date: 18th century, Edo period (1615–1868)
• Artist attribution: Japan
• Place of origin: Japan
• Medium: Silk and gilt-paper strip; twill weave with secondary binding warps and supplementary patterning wefts, with couched plied silk
• Dimensions: 116.5 × 216.5 cm (45 7/8 × 85 1/4 in.)
• Type: Textile
• Department: Textiles
• Reference number: 1956.1228

Collection credit

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Donald Eastman

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The description above is credited to the Art Institute of Chicago and reused under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0; HTML formatting has been converted to plain text. Other catalogue metadata and the public-domain image are provided under CC0 1.0.