Vase Mat (S) (Tempyo Mokuga Sou-ka-kin)

Among the Shōsō-in Treasures, there remain fine arts not only brought from the continent but also made by domestic artisans in the Nara period(710-784 A.D.) who had presumably been affected by the culture of the Tang Dynasty China (618-907 A.D.) and further the West. This design is modeled after a pattern inlaid in the biwa lute made of red sandalwood, having been kept in the Shōsō-in Repository, composed of four-petalled flowers, six-petalled flowers, and small six-petalled flowers placed one after the other. The warp-patterned brocade is woven in our technique leaving the sentiments of the inlaid work recalling the ethos of the Tempyō art in the Nara period.