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Unlined Summer Kimono (Hito-e) with Plovers in Flight over Stylized Waves

Taishō period (1912–26)
Not on view
Unlined, light and airy summer kimonos are often decorated with motifs for their cooling psychological effect. Here, violet and white plovers wheel and dive on a background of abstract peaked shapes that may be meant to represent waves or the drying fishnets found along the shores where plovers were plentiful. The violet plovers were embroidered in silk, while the white plovers were resist dyed on the dark ground and have tiny embroidered silver eyes. Similar patterns were popular in the second half of the Edo period (1615–1868), but the layout of the design was different and the depiction of the scene less stylized.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • 藤紫絽地波千鳥模様単衣
  • Title: Unlined Summer Kimono (Hito-e) with Plovers in Flight over Stylized Waves
  • Period: Taishō period (1912–26)
  • Culture: Japan
  • Medium: Embroidered and resist-dyed silk gauze (ro)
  • Dimensions: H (shoulder to hem) 61 in. (154.9 cm); W (wrist opening to wrist opening) 50 in. (127 cm)
  • Classification: Costumes
  • Credit Line: Gift of Atsuko Irie, in honor of Suga Irie, 1998
  • Object Number: 1998.487.5
  • Curatorial Department: Asian Art

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