Katazome panel, Japan, early Meiji (circa 1870), cm75x33. This is a Katazome a cloth with a repeated pattern of butterfly and peony motif on a sky blue indigo ground. Katazome is a resist-dye technique in which a paste of rice flour and bran is applied to cloth through a cut paper stencil (katagami). This paste is applied with a flat, blunt tool or a brush: where the paste has been pushed onto the cloth, dye will not penetrate. Dyes can be applied using an immersion method, by hand tinting, or by a combination of these applications, depending on the complexity of the desired effect. This cotton cloth had been homespun, hand-woven and then dyed in botanical indigo, that has gently faded as years were passing by. In very good condition, it is a lovely object and a rare find.