 |
|
Home |
|
Tsutsugaki Futon Cover: Chinese Lions 'Karajishi' browse these categories for related items... Directory: Antiques:Regional Art:Asian:Japanese:Textiles: Pre 1920: Item # 438399
Sri Textiles 18 Eckford Street, 2A Brooklyn, NY 11222 tel 718-599-2559 Guest Book sold |
|
|||||||||||
| Meiji Era, c. 1910, 65" x 54"/ 165 cm x 137 cm, This indigo dyed cotton futon cover is fashioned from a yogi, or sleeping kimono, made of homespun cloth. The cotton's hand is heavy and rich, as one can imagine from hand woven textiles of this sort. Three 'karajishi' or Chinese lions frolic over the surface of this piece in a spirit of animated play. China is the direct source for the motif of these lions, although it is presumed that that the lion motif is ultimately derived from Persian, Indian or Assyrian sources. In Japanese iconography the karajishi (representative of 'male' energy) is usually shown frolicking among peonies (representative of 'female' energy) which, when lion and peony are joined together, exemplify the holistic and united fields of energetics, or the marriage of male and female. In this case we see only the lions, who can also represent guardianship, as sculpted lions guard many Chinese temple entrances. The lion is also representative of Buddhism in general and is often shown in Buddhist iconography as the mount of the bodhisattva of wisdom, Monju. The color of the piece is still brilliant in dark and bright indigos and there are about a dozen small mendings, each discrete and not unusual for a country textile of this variety. Shown prominently in the center of the futon cover is the 'mon' or family crest depicting three butterflies. | ||||||||||||
|
||||||
| Home | Join | Shops | Map | Terms | Help | |
