A Japanese Hokkaido Ainu Attush Robe

Lot Details & Additional Photographs

Meiji period (1868-1912), woven indigo-dyed elm bark fiber fabric with cotton appliqué, traditional form with broad sleeves and open front, decorated with bold curvilinear patterns in pale green, white and red patterns evoking protective and ceremonial designs characteristic of the indigenous Ainu textile tradition.

36 x 59 in.

Private Collection, Chicago, compiled in the 1990s.

For examples of Ainu robes in prominent museum collections see the Victoria and Albert Museum (T.99-1963), a Meiji period Ainu Robe (67.172.2) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and an Attush Robe with Light-Blue Stripes (2019.20.21) at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. For an examples that recently sold at auction, see Sotheby's, London, November 5, 2024, Lot 79.

Overall very good condition; some scatted spots of soil; some light fading and wear around neck collar and edges near lower waist and at back lower hem.