Overrobe (Uchikake) with Design of Bamboo Curtains (Sudare), Curtain of State, and Fans

Unknown artist

The conventionalized clouds, bamboo curtain (sudare), curtain of state, and decorated fans attempt to evoke the rarefied world of the court of the Heian period (794–1185), with handsome courtiers glimpsing the tastefully dyed sleeves of court ladies and sending them poems and fans through silken barriers. However, the audacious execution of the jam-packed design places this robe in the early twentieth century, a period of colorfully extravagant textiles. Among the skillfully rendered details are the translucency of the bamboo curtain (through which the curtain of state can be seen) and the individual designs of the fans at the bottom of the robe, which features interpretations in silk, dyes, and gold leaf of the decorated papers out of which fans are made.