Piece
Unknown Artist
18th–19th century
Medium
Silk
Dimensions
11 3/4 x 7 1/2 in. (29.84 x 19.05 cm)
Classification
Textiles-Woven
Culture
Japan
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1896
Accession Number
96.14.756
Tags
Art Historical Context
This exquisite silk textile fragment, titled simply *Piece*, hails from Japan during the 18th–19th centuries, a time spanning the opulent Edo period and the transformative early Meiji era. Woven with masterful precision, it measures a modest 11¾ x 7½ inches, likely part of a larger garment or decorative panel. Its floral motifs, rendered in vibrant silk threads, capture the delicate beauty of nature—a hallmark of Japanese artistry that evokes seasonal blooms and impermanence, central themes in the country's aesthetic philosophy. Japanese woven silks like this one showcase advanced textile tec...