Buddhist Priest's Robe (Kesa) with Decoration of Phoenixes (Hō-ō) and Flowers amid Clouds
Japanese
A Buddhist priest's robe known in Japan as a kesa (Sanskrit, kasaya), this rectangular garment is made up of mulitple pieces of the same cloth that together form a patchwork of rectangles and squares framed within a border. The fabric is a pale green-blue silk decorated with long-tailed phoenixes, flowers, and golden clouds. The phoenixes and flowers were embroidered utilizing multicolored silk threads; selected outlines of motifs were embroidered with gold threads. The clouds were hand-painted on using gold pigments.
Pale green-blue silk with cloud motifs painted in gold pigment; additional motifs embroidered in polychrome silk and gold threads
Edo period, 1615-1868