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Tapestry

ClassificationsTextiles-hangings-tapestries

Datec. 1893

Made AtJapan, Asia

MediumSilk, cotton, and gold thread

Dimensions83 × 59 in. (210.8 × 149.9 cm)

Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. Ben J. Allen

Object number36756

DescriptionExport era Japanese textiles, especially those intended for international expositions, were made with the intention of win cultural victories in the West, raising the standing of Japan rather than directly serving as export sales. However, despite significant intervention by Japan’s Meiji government, as late as the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris Japanese embroidery was still not considered fine art or exhibited in fine arts buildings. For the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, Meiji government officers took a direct approach and personally presented artworks to the exposition’s selection committee, finally succeeding in entering multiple genres of art into the exposition’s fine art hall, not the least of these was a series of 12 falcons made by Suzuki Chokichi which were called “lifelike” by an unabashedly impressed American public. Even more works were displayed in an authentic temporary-built Japanese pavilion called the Ho-o-Den. The Bowers textile is one of only two of these fine arts textiles to remain in US museums, originally purchased early in the exposition by the 8th governor of California, Leland Stanford, as a gift for his wife. Two traditional Japanese dragons locked in combat and embroidered in gold thread constitute the subject of this tapestry, which would still have been appealing to a Western audience due to its bold nature, but managed to maintained its cultural integrity with its culturally consistent depiction of dragons.

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