ohi, unknown maker from Japan

Exhibition Label:
“Flowers, Dragons and Pine Trees: Asian Textiles in the Spencer Museum of Art,” Nov-2005, Mary Dusenbury
The fabrics that compose this modest textile date variously from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century. The oldest is the sixteenth-century center panel, with a sparse central field dominated by eight imperial sixteen-petal chrysanthemums with radiating spirals, depicted in silver against an orange-red safflower ground. The main fabric probably dates from the eighteenth century. The corner patches are nineteenth-century replacements.
The use of the imperial sixteen-petal
chrysanthemum, the luxurious materials (restricted safflower red dye and high-quality gold and silver thread), the quality of the weaving, and the distinguished design suggest that the center panel might have belonged to an imperial prince. A number of royal relatives served as abbots of temples that had connections to the court or imperial family.
This ohi is fragile and shows signs of significant wear. By contrast the corner patches appear startlingly bright. Their newness, uneven sizing, and sloppy placement suggest that they were hasty replacements for the original patches when the ohi left the temple and was sold, eventually, to a Western collector.