Piece

Art Historical Context

This delicate woven textile fragment, simply titled *Piece*, hails from 19th-century Japan and a mere 2¼ x 4 inches (5.71 x 10.16 cm). Crafted from silk and metallic threads, it belongs to the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Asian collection, gifted by collectors Mr. and Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer in 6. The small scale belies its intricate depiction of human figures, a to the extraordinary precision of Japanese weaving traditions. In Japanese culture, textiles like this were integral to daily life and ceremony, often adorning kimonos, obijime, or decorative screens. The use of metallic threads—likely ...