Men’s jacket

ca. 1930-40

This jacket’s design—birds in a snowy landscape—is evidently drawn from the well-known painting Mandarin Ducks in Snow by Ito Jakuchu (1716–1800). The maker copied Jakuchu’s painting faithfully, marvelously applying it to this silk garment with a freehand paste-resist dyeing technique called yuzen-zome. Such a fine piece would have been commissioned by a patron, probably a wealthy merchant in Kyoto.

Silk, freehand paste-resist dyeing (yuzen-zome)

39 x 49 inches

Gift of the Virginia and Bagley Wright Collection

89.163

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Beyond The Tanabata Bridge: A Textile Journey In Japan (Washington, D.C., Textile Museum, Sept. 10, 1993 - Feb. 27, 1994; Birmingham, Alabama, Birmingham Museum of Art, Apr. 17 - June 26, 1994; Dallas, Texas, Dallas Museum of Art, Mar. 12 - May 28, 1995).

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Boundless: Stories of Asian Art, Feb. 8, 2020 - ongoing [on view Feb. 8, 2020 - July 11, 2021].

Published ReferencesRathbun, William Jay, Seattle Art Museum, "Beyond The Tanabata Bridge: Traditional Japanese Textiles", 1993 Seattle, Washington, pp. 161-163, p. 162-163 illus. (color), cat. 48

Loudon, Sarah. "Instructional Resources: Wearable Arts of Japan Seattle Art Museum," in Art Education, Vol. 49, No. 6, Art Education Reform and New Technologies, November 1996, p. 25-32

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

Learn more about Equity at SAM