Bowdoin College Homepage
Bowdoin College Museum of Art Logo and Wordmark

Advanced Search
Preview image of work. Japanese (Mulberry ?) paper,  untitled (Japanese Kata-gami [paper stencil]) 14143
IIIF Logo
2005.15.8

Recommend keywords

Help us make our collections more accessible by providing keywords to describe this artwork. The BCMA uses the Getty Art & Architecture Thesaurus to provide consistent keywords. Enter a keyword in the field below and you will be prompted with a list of possible matching AAT preferred terms.

 
 

untitled (Japanese Kata-gami [paper stencil])

Export record as: Plain text | JSON | CDWA-Lite | VRA Core 4

Artist

Artist Unidentified (Japanese)

Title

untitled (Japanese Kata-gami [paper stencil])

Creation Date

n.d.

Century

early 20th century?

Dimensions

8 3/16 in. x 13 in. (20.8 cm x 33.02 cm)

Object Type

stencil

Creation Place

Asia, Japan

Medium and Support

Japanese (Mulberry ?) paper

Credit Line

Gift, David Thorndike

Copyright

Public Domain

Accession Number

2005.15.8

Object Description

June 14, 2006 From the website: http://int.kateigaho.com/spr05/katagami.html “Originating in the Nara Period (710-794), katagami, or Japanese paper stencil patterns, were first used for applying designs in dye to leather goods such as stirrups and warrior helmets. They later came to be used for dyeing textiles and made great advances with the development of the kimono culture. The early paper stencil patterns were called Ise katagami since they were created in towns such as Shiroko and Jike on the shore of Ise Bay in former Ise Province (present-day Mie prefecture). They were sold all over Japan by itinerant traders. A journey to visit the roots of Ise katagami will give you insights into the heart of traditional Japanese culture”
From the website: http://www.allinsongallery.com/stencil2/index.html

"Japanese paper stencils are used in the process of dyeing textiles. The patterns are varied: geometric shapes, animals, flowers, landscapes and everyday objects. The patterns are an art form in themselves. Some are constructed for repeat dyeing; others are single designs. They are cut into sheets of handmade mulberry paper laminated together and waterproofed with persimmon tannin.

Designs are cut into the paper with thin knives and fine punches, and reinforced with stands of silk. Each plate has two small pinholes that serve as "register marks." A pin or point is passed through each of these two holes and into the corresponding marks left by the previous impression. In this way, design continuity is insured. Designs can be printed either vertically or horizontally."
From the website: http://www.sohe.wisc.edu/depts/hlatc/pixelsexhibit/katagami.html “Katagami stencils were used by the Japanese for over a thousand years to pattern textiles in a technique called katazome. This delicate dye-resist technique traditionally involves applying rice paste through a stencil onto silk, followed by an exacting procedure of multiple stencil realignments and paste applications in order to continue the yardage’s pattern. The material is then dyed, sometimes repeatedly, typically in indigo. The paste is then removed to reveal exquisite voided patterns. The stencil’s highly detailed cutouts result in large areas of negative space. The precise cutouts are supported by an equally fine, though less visible, silk thread grid that stabilizes each of the tiny paper components. The stencil-making process involves first curing numerous thin sheets of mulberry bark in persimmon juice. After arranging a small stack of cured papers and drawing the pattern on the surface sheet, all layers are cut with a sharp, curved blade. Next, the silk support grid is imbedded in between layers and the excess threads are trimmed. Stencil Large ViewThe end result is a stencil of unparalleled sharpness supported by a fine silk grid that does not impede the application of rice paste. The close-up image of this stencil depicts not only the fragile nature of the grid, but the extreme precision in the laborious rearrangement of the stencil’s layers, showing only hairline fine areas of misalignment. Katagami stencils produced in Japan before the third quarter of the nineteenth century frequently used human hair support grids instead of silk. Silk was discovered to not only be less invasive in the dye application and easier to manage, but it was less likely to warp during frequent use. In the 1870s, by resting paper cut-outs on a silk grid stretched around a wooden frame, the French used Japanese techniques to devise an early version of what is known today as the silk screen”