Vase Mat (S) (Kacho Baika-Mon Nishiki)

In this example six-petalled flowers are arranged beautifully with the intervening spaces filled with pendants and small birds. The design suggests the song of the birds harmoniously mingled with the musical sound produced by the pendants in the breeze. The sentiment expressed by the design of this brocade, as well as by the form and the color of the design, re veals the characteristics of the T’ang Dynasty when the original was made. The structure of this brocade is that type which already existed in the Han Dynasty and in which the ground as well as the pattern was wrought with the warp. The weave combines elegance with durability and beauty with practical use. There are preserved in the Shosoin Repository many other specimens of this same pattern but differing in the color scheme. From this fact we may know that this type of brocade reflected the taste of the people of that time and that it was widely used.