Japanese Nagoya Obi with Itomaki or Sewing Spool Motifs

Round baskets and swirling ribbons float across a cream lattice.

This nagoya obi with itomaki or sewing spool motifs is from Japan, and is ca. 1940. It is silk. Itomaki are spools of thread, and they turn up as a motif in Japanese design, where the tools of weaving and sewing are sometimes made into pattern. Folded woven sash printed with large rounded forms in orange, purple and lilac, each decorated with peonies or small repeating patterns. Dark bands with grey curved fittings cross them. Thin orange lines loop over a pale yellow ground. It is 12 inches wide and 129.5 long.

Delightfully busy, and not remotely apologetic.