Nō Robe (Nuihaku-type)
Original Language Title能装束（縫箔）
CultureJapanese
Date18th century
MediumSilk embroidered with silk thread and stenciled with gold foil
DimensionsOverall: 58 1/2 × 55 1/4 inches (148.59 × 140.34 cm)
Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust
Object number32-142/2
On View
Not on viewCollections
DescriptionPurplish brown silk ground with gold-leaf and silk thread embroidery. No robe (Nuihaku type) with wavy-line pattern (tatewaku), chrysanthemums, swallows, and butterflies.Gallery LabelThis nuihaku silk robe was decorated using two techniques: embroidery (nui) and ultra-thin metallic foil stenciling (haku). Nō actors wear nuihaku to perform the roles of women and young men. The vertical winding lines are representations of ascending steam, a pattern favored by courtiers during the Heian period (794–1185 C.E.) and repeated in textile design ever since. The surface decorator made the serpentine lines and chrysanthemums and filled the space between with stenciled gold foil. Imagine how the gold embellishments would glisten as an actor moved on stage.
Private collection, Osaka, Japan [1];
With Yamanaka & Co., New York, by June 8, 1932 [2];
Purchased from Yamanaka & Co., through Langdon Warner (1881-1955), by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1932.
NOTES:
[1] According to H. Yamanaka, Yamanaka & Co., in a letter to Langdon Warner, Nelson-Atkins advisor, June 8, 1932, Harvard University, Langdon Warner Personal Archive, box 13, folder 3, copy in Nelson-Atkins curatorial files.
[2] This was no. 16 on a list of offered textiles included with H. Yamanaka's letter [see note 1].
With Yamanaka & Co., New York, by June 8, 1932 [2];
Purchased from Yamanaka & Co., through Langdon Warner (1881-1955), by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1932.
NOTES:
[1] According to H. Yamanaka, Yamanaka & Co., in a letter to Langdon Warner, Nelson-Atkins advisor, June 8, 1932, Harvard University, Langdon Warner Personal Archive, box 13, folder 3, copy in Nelson-Atkins curatorial files.
[2] This was no. 16 on a list of offered textiles included with H. Yamanaka's letter [see note 1].
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