Chinese Textiles: Albums of Ancient Textiles
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Album of Ancient Textiles, Yuan–Ming dynasties, 13th–17th century
Asian Gallery (Toyokan) Room 5
March 7, 2023 (Tue) - May 28, 2023 (Sun)In Japan, valuable textiles were sought after by practitioners of the tea ceremony. Many were imported from China, and they included gold and silver brocade, satin damask, and fabrics with supplementary patterning. Tea practitioners used these textiles to frame paintings and calligraphy, and to make pouches for tea utensils. After these textiles became worn from use, they were cut into pieces, labeled, and put into albums called kogirechō, or “albums of ancient textiles.” Tea practitioners used these albums as reference books and studied them to increase their knowledge.
Here we present three of these albums. They include a variety of textiles, including Indian chintz, which is a fabric with printed designs, and Japanese karaori, which is silk with elaborate patterns.
| Designation | Name | Creation/ Excavation/ Provenance |
Period | Acquisition/ Ownership/ Accession Number |
CMT | ||
| Highlight | Album of Ancient Textiles | China | Yuan–Ming dynasties, 13th–17th century | TI-483 | |||
| Highlight | Album of Ancient Textiles | China | Ming–Qing dynasties, 17th–18th century | TI-488 |