Book Cover (Kamon Ungen Nishiki)

Among some of the brocades called“Ungen”, meaning stripes shaded in various colors, the original from which the design with floral motives is adapted is the one used for the hem cloth of a rug which is registered as“ a white twill with design of a flowering tree and paired sheep and paired phoenixes”. Although this original cloth is a weft-patterned brocade, our adaptation is woven as a warppatterned textile. The four-petalled floral motives of green are arranged on the vertical stripes in purple and red, and the six-petalled floral motives of purple and red on those in white. The diapers made up of tiny dots are strewn all over the design. This is a very delicate brocade which preserves the genuine fee ling of Shosoin repository in the 8th century Japan.