This stunning embroidery of the golden pavillion in Kyoto, would have been made to cater for the huge craze in Europe for all things Japanese, during the Aesthetic Period, in the last quarter of the 19th century. The colours are beautiful with 15-20 different shades, the stitch techniques producing interesting textures and shading.
a finely embroidered hanging of a large three storey lakeside house with a landing stage, a smaller house in the distance, the foreground with a small building, all in wooded landscapes in autumnal colours including terracotta, soft ochres, shades of subdued green and brown, ivory, slate blue grey, using thick floss silks,some couching, lined with neutral cotton, 66 x 46 in; 1.68 x 1.17 m
Excellent.
This exhibition which is on at the present time is a must if you are visiting Cambridge, if not buy the catalogue. At last this type of embroidery is receiving a long overdue promotion.
The catalogue states: There was a long tradition in Japanese art of depicting places noteworthy for their history, architecture, temples and shrines, famous scenic views, or placs known in famous poems. These were known as meisho-e (pictures of famous places),and the scenes were often set in one of the four seasons. With the opening up of Japan to the West in the 1850s and the advent of growing numbes of foreign visitors, there was a growing demand from foreigners for visits to these places. Initally the government did not allow access to many cities including Kyoto, but after the fifth Kyoto Exhibition of 1872, travel permits were relaxed, finally opening the country to foreigners in 1889. The governmnet realised that foreign tourists could help modernise Japan and seek acceptance by the major Western powers.
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