Japan

Fukusa (Gift Cover)

Mid–Meiji period (1868–1912), c. 1895

Patterned side: silk, plain weave (shioze); dye extracted though a discharge dyeing technique and chemical dye stripper (bassen) and painted with India ink (sumi); embroidered with silk and gold-leaf-on-lacquered-paper-strip-wrapped silk, laidwork and couching; lined with silk, ink and stamped with ink; sewn with front and lining matched in size (Tachikiri awase); silk, running "controlling" stitches along all edges; corners: gold-leaf-over-lacquered- paper-strip-wrapped cotton, knotted and replied fringe tassels

76.8 × 66.1 cm (30.2 × 26 in)