Kyokkin Furoshiki: Tenpyō Hunting Motif Brocade

The original brocade from which our textile was reproduced has been handed down in the Shösõ-in in Nara. Its design is a so-called "hunting" pattern in which the "pearled" medallions are surrounded by the "vine arabesques", and within these roundels, four horsemen shooting leoards are represented with flowering trees, running sheep and deer. In a space between the roundels, are arranged lozenges which are skillfully combined with lions and long-tailed birds. Both "hunting" pattern and "pearled" roundel are the peculiar design of Sassanian Persia, and the patterning of this brocade is a most typical one of Sassanian Persia found in the T'ang Dynasty (A.D.618-906). when we eompare this piece with the "hunting scene" brocade kept in the Horyu-ji Temple, the lines are softer and the line up of the design is more complex, and thus we can see the transition of times.