textile
- Museum number
- 2010,3029.1
- Description
-
Textile with Ryukyu-style ikat pattern. Dyed and woven banana-tree fibre (bashofu).
- Production date
- 1978-1980
- Dimensions
-
Length: 497 centimetres
-
Width: 35 centimetres
- Curator's comments
- Taira Toshiko was designed a ‘Living National Treasure’ by the Japanese government in 2000 for her ‘abaca cloth’ (bashōfu technique). She has been the leading figure in reviving production of banana-plant fibre cloth in postwar Okinawa. The technique was introduced to Okinawa in the thirteenth century from south-east Asia. It all but died out during the Pacific War but was revived in large measure through Taira’s research, practice and teaching. This particular work is important for its beauty, traditional colours and patterning, excellence of technique, and its having been created by Taira herself rather than the collective that she leads. (N. C. Rousmaniere, 2010)
- Location
- On display (G93/dc7/sF)
- Exhibition history
-
2013 Apr – Oct, BM Japanese Galleries, 'Japan from Prehistory to the Present'
2016 Oct –, BM Japanese Galleries, 'Japan from Prehistory to the Present'
- Acquisition date
- 2010
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- 2010,3029.1