Buddhist Vestment (Kesa) (early 1900s): Art, History and Details

Buddhist Vestment (Kesa) (early 1900s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Kesa are Buddhist monastic robes that originated in India. The robes are named after the brown or saffron dye originally used in their production. The primary motif on this seven-paneled kesa is a long-tailed bird with a flower in its mouth. This motif was imported from Persia (present-day Iran) through China during the Nara period (710–794)and is interpreted as a positive symbol. The bird delivers happiness in its mouth.

Object facts

• Title: Buddhist Vestment (Kesa)
• Date: early 1900s
• Culture: Japan, Meiji period (1868–1912)
• Type: Garment
• Technique: silk with supplementary weft, brocaded; metal thread
• Dimensions: Overall: 119.4 x 205.7 cm (47 x 81 in.)
• Collection: Textiles
• Department: Textiles
• Accession number: 1916.1340

A detail from the museum

This kesa depicts bird cages, but all the birds portrayed fly free.

Collection credit

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Wade

Further reading listed by the museum

• Cleveland Museum of Art, and Sŏn Sŭng-hye. The Lure of Painted Poetry: Japanese and Korean Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2011.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.