Indigo shibori cloth , Japan, late Meiji (c.1910), 101x27cm. The common English translation of the Japanese word shibori is "tie-dye"; however, a more accurate translation is "shaped-resist dyeing," which describes the inherent patterning process of manipulating the two-dimensional cloth surface into three-dimensional shapes before compressing them to dye. Diverse shibori techniques are used to obtain different patterns, and sometimes they can be combined to obtain a certain result. This is the case with the present item, that features large and small spider-webs of kumo shibori, divided by belts obtained with a different shibori technique. Kumo shibori has long been known in Japan. a twelfth-century painting shows a simple hemp garment with a pattern that resembles this type of shibori. It appears frequently in the ukiyo-e (wood-block prints) of the Edo period (1603-1868), which depict the lives of people from all parts of society. In the nineteenth century, an unusually fine type of pleated and bound kumo shibori dyed in indigo on fine cotton became very fashionable. The actual cloth, obtained by joining three smaller sections from a larger cloth (possibly a summer kimono), shows how the ability of a master-dyer can lead to eye-catching results. Condition is not exactly mint, with small holes, little staining, some stitches coming loose and a rather evident age patina (see detail image showing front&back at same time). Re. patina, to me it is not an issue rather an added value to the look of cloth, but this is clearly a matter of viewpoints…