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View at the museum ↗Kesa (Buddhist Monk's Robe)
Unrecorded artistLate 19th or early 20th century, Meiji period (1868–1912)/ Taishô period (1912–1926)
- Attribution
- Japan
- Medium
- Silk and gilt-paper strip; twill weave with supplementary patterning and brocading wefts
- Physical dimensions
- 115.1 × 210 cm (45 1/4 × 82 3/4 in.)
- Credit line
- Gift of Gaylord Donnelley in memory of Frances Gaylord Smith
Museum metadata is available under CC0. Image availability and rights are separate; consult the source record.
Source rights statement: Public-domain image eligibility not established by this export
View the museum record ↗From the museum
This kesa —a Buddhist monk's robe—features a rooster perched atop a taiko drum, a 13-string koto, a pear-shaped biwa, a stringed tsutsumi drum, and a flute, as well as two masks. Music and performance play an important role in the lives of Japanese Buddhist monks, whose ritual practice is facilitated by patterns of sound, silence, movement, and stillness. The instruments, masks, and foliate forms that dance across the golden ground of the kesa produce a vivid composition that would be even livelier if the garment were wrapped around the body.
Description: Art Institute of Chicago · CC BY 4.0