Anonymous, Whose Sleeves? (Tagasode), Edo period, early 17th century |...

pair of six-panel folding screens: ink, colour, gold and gofun on paper, silk brocade borders, lacquered wood mounts

each screen approx. 116 x 276 cm. (when unfolded)
each screen approx. 116 x 46 cm. (when folded)

Condition Report:
Overall, the screens are in good condition, most Japanese screens have some restoration by the nature of their use being opened and closed repeatedly, there is some wear around the hinges consistent with age and use, each screen with wormage, some discolouration to the paper along the top edges, some small losses to pigments and wear to the surface in places, the right screen with uneven toning to the rightmost and two leftmost panels, some areas possibly later decorated within the hanging robes, the snow scene maybe later, the third panel from the right with a repair in between the two bottom tiers of the kimono stand, the rightmost panel with rubbing to the pigments and ink to the stand in the lower right section; the left screen with uneven toning to the two leftmost panels, the leftmost panel well worn and has areas of re-touching, there is wear to the gufun in places, a few further repairs to the rightmost panel and elsewhere, some soiling and slight marks in places, the leftmost panel with a few scattered pairs, including a repair within the bird cage, there is some wear to the paper surface and wormage in places, some slight soiling to the gofun on the kimono stand.

Catalogue Note:
More than its colour,

the fragrance moves me –

whose sleeves, brushing past

left this scent of plum blossoms

at my door?1

Iro yori mo

ka koso aware to

omohoyure

tagasode fureshi

yado no ume zo mo

In the genre painting subject known as Tagasode [lit. ‘another's sleeves’], the viewer is immediately confronted with the question: who is the wearer of these garments? The owner of these sumptuous belongings is expressed in absentia, conveyed through the fashionable patterning and personal accessories arranged on the garment stands. Following a general trajectory toward abbreviation in Edo period (1615-1868) genre painting, such screens evoke an absent presence – an unseen figure of taste and fashion, conjured through dress alone, without face or figure.

Many genre paintings of Japan's early modern period feature men and women dressed in kosode [lit. ‘short sleeves’], which by the Momoyama period (1568-1615) denoted a kimono with narrow hand openings that had become the common outer garment across all classes. The townscape of the period would have appeared a rich tapestry of embroidered silk in motion: the regular, symmetrical designs of the earlier seventeenth century gave way in its latter half to bolder and more asymmetrical forms. Under the strict social order of the Pax Tokugawa, sumptuary edicts enforced status distinctions through dress; it was most often the fashions of the unofficial world (oku) – free to experiment without such constraint – and the demands of the merchant classes and denizens of the floating world, that drove the period's many stylistic shifts.

The theme of Tagasode has roots in classical love poetry, where the phrase evoked a beautiful woman whose presence was longed for. Such screens draw their name from precisely this conceit: the garments draped over a kimono rack hint at the beauty of an unseen wearer. The theme can be traced to the Heian period (794-1185), when the language of robes carried particular significance. Court women customarily veiled themselves behind curtains or screens; a young, inquisitive suitor might glimpse her sumptuous robes and judge her aesthetic sophistication and amorous potential from them alone. Lovers of the period also exchanged waka, the thirty-one syllable court poetry rich in insinuation and veiled meaning, in which incense-scented robes could stand in for an otherwise inaccessible woman. Sleeves were so bound up with the person of the wearer that emotional distress itself was conventionally expressed through them, as in nururu sode [sleeves sodden with tears] or sode no tsuyukeki [sleeves still drenched with dew].

Here, what hangs on the kimono rack is military-class dress, both male and female. A sugoroku board, books, incense burner, and unusually for Tagasode screens, two birdcages housing skylarks or bush warblers are arranged around the stand. On the right screen, women’s and children's kosode are painted with embroidery details and gold and silver surihaku, forming lively, bold designs of golden wisteria fronds and autumn foliage. One robe bears a design of stylised snowflake motifs and karako throwing snowballs. On the left screen, a man's formal kamishimo and a woman's kosode, are emblazoned with family crests and are more subtly patterned. The gauziness of the kamishimo kataginu indicates summer wear. The pairing of adult and children's garments suggests an entire household evoked through dress.

1. Kokin wakashu [Collection of Japanese Poetry Ancient and Modern], Book 1 (Spring I), no...