Jacket (Hanten)

second half of the 19th century

Not on view

Returned to lender

This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.

The extraordinary variety of silk fabrics pieced together to form this hanten, a jacket worn under a kimono, is a testimony to the skill of its maker. The fragments—many of which originate in the Edo period—are of interest in themselves, as they represent nearly every type of textile technique employed in Japan, some of which demanded great expertise. For instance, the method of creating minute, rice-paste resist-stenciled motifs (komon katazome) on silk or hemp is especially difficult to perfect. Because of the value of both the individual fragments and the jacket as a whole, the owner might have been a townsman (chōnin) for whom the symbolic connotations of longevity associated with the act of recycling had a particular resonance. The same tradition of “reusing”can be observed in several areas of Japanese textiles, including Buddhist vestments (kesa) and farmer’s
jackets.

Artwork Details

Overview

Exhibition History

寄せ裂袢纏
Title: Jacket (Hanten)
Period: Meiji period (1868–1912)
Date: second half of the 19th century
Culture: Japan
Medium: Crepe silk (chirimen) patchwork with ikat, shibori, komon katazome, paste-resist dyeing (yūzen), stencil-dyed and patterned damask sections, some dating from the Edo period (1615–1868)
Dimensions: Approx. 45 × 51 in. (114.3 × 129.5 cm)
Classification: Costumes
Credit Line: Lent by John C. Weber Collection
Curatorial Department: Asian Art