Vintage Kimono: Indonesian-Influenced Pattern

A beautiful Indonesian-influenced kimono. This piece remains in exceptional condition, retaining its original crisp lining and untouched surface, an artifact of an era when Japanese mills synthesized tradition with the avant-garde.

The design is an exuberant collage of floral, geometric, and folkloric elements, consisting of:

• Kiku (Chrysanthemums): symbols of longevity, imperial dignity, and autumn
• Botan & Karabana (Peony & Chinese-style Flowers): nods to pan-Asian decorative arts
• Diamond Lozenges & Latticework: a hallmark of Art Deco’s impact on Japanese mills
• Stylized Indonesian birds with trailing plumage: appropriated motifs of freedom, renewal, and feminine elegance

These motifs, while collectively rooted in traditional Japanese symbolism, are filtered through global visual currents, speaking directly to the cosmopolitan energy of interwar Japan. Batik from Indonesia, Indian chintz florals, and Western geometric abstraction all haunt the pattern in subtle, brilliant ways. The simple, color-blocked interior features a white silk dōura (upper lining) and a rose-pink hakkake (lower lining).

Measures 59" x 49"

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PROVENANCE

These kimonos come from the private collection of Christine Ong, a Peranakan Singaporean singer and entrepreneur now associated with the preeminent Asian publisher Tuttle. Ong is an esteemed collector of Asian cultural artifacts, including Japanese textiles, which she sources from defunct kimono collectors and tailors in Japan.