A Small, Resist Dyed Cotton Furoshiki: Tachibana

early twentieth century
27" x 25", 68.5 cm x 63.5 cm

This is a small, resist dyed, hand woven cotton furoshiki which is a traditional Japanese wrapping/carrying cloth.

It is dyed a grey color--maybe a charcoal ink-based dye.  It shows two resist dyed images, a family crest on the upper right hand corner and two highly stylized kanji or Chinese characters on the lower right.  The family crest is that of tachibana, a representation of a mandarin orange.

Noteworthy is the ingrained, diagonally-placed rectangle shape in the center of the furoshiki.  This indicates that this furoshiki was used to store or carry a box (probably many, many times) as the box has left an imprint in the center of the wrapping cloth.

A lovely piece with good color, and interesting design and a gorgeous, small story to tell.

Wonderful.