Piece
Unknown Artist
17th century
Medium
Silk / Compound weave
Dimensions
1 5/8 × 4 1/8 in. (4.1 × 10.5 cm)
Classification
Textiles-Woven
Culture
Japan
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Kihei Hattori, in memory of his father, Kihei Hattori, 1920
Accession Number
20.148.475
Art Historical Context
This exquisite silk fragment, titled *Piece*, hails from 17th-century Japan during the Edo period—a time of relative peace and prosperity under the Tokugawa shunate, when textile arts. Measuring just 1 5/8 × 4 1/8 inches, this diminutive woven textile exemplifies the mastery of Japanese weavers, who produced luxurious fabrics for kimonos, obi sashes, and ceremonial garments that signified social status and refined taste. Crafted in a compound weave technique, the piece showcases an advanced method where multiple layers of pattern and color are interlaced in a single loom process, creating int...