Summer Robe (Katabira) with Autumn Flowers and Insect Cages

late 18th–early 19th century
Not on view
In Japan, insects beloved for their chirping song were sometimes caught or purchased and kept in cages. This unlined summer robe features a variety of insect cages amid autumn grasses on an indigo blue ground that suggests cool autumn days and the color of water—a favorite conceit for summer kimonos. The design is rendered using paste-resist dyeing (yūzen) and embroidery. The scattered, glinting gold embroidery evokes the quality of light on an autumn day. The insect-cage design was already popular in the early Edo period and is depicted in the earliest woodblock-printed book of patterns for kimonos, published in 1666.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • 藍地秋草虫籠模様帷子小袖
  • Title: Summer Robe (Katabira) with Autumn Flowers and Insect Cages
  • Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
  • Date: late 18th–early 19th century
  • Culture: Japan
  • Medium: Bast fiber with resist‑dyeing, silk-thread embroidery, and gold-thread couching
  • Dimensions: 70 1/4 × 48 1/2 in. (178.4 × 123.2 cm)
  • Classification: Costumes-Embroidered
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Friends of Asian Art Gifts, 2018
  • Object Number: 2018.643
  • Curatorial Department: Asian Art

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