Jacket with Octopus

c. 1800–1868

Jacket with Octopus, c. 1800–1868. Japan, Edo period (1615-1868). Silk crepe (chirimen); overall: 81.9 x 129.5 cm (32 1/4 x 51 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, L. E. Holden Fund 2020.66 This jacket features an octopus motif, with the head and body on the back and tentacles extending across the front. The outlines of the design were painted on to the silk ground after which a resist process was used to add the dyes. The silk has a finely wrinkled surface called crepe, or chirimen in Japanese. Crepe results from the weft thread being kept tighter than the warp thread during weaving.