{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O486032"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O486032/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2018LF7643/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2018LF7643/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2018LF7643","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2018LF6907","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O486032/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O486032","accessionNumber":"FE.149-1983","objectType":"Textile sample album ","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"","physicalDescription":"Small concertina-style album of Japanese washi (paper) with back and front boards covered in blue silk.  Inside the album are pasted 29 very small fragments of 8th century woven, resist-dyed and embroidered silk. \r\n\r\nThe album is stored in a wooden box tied with a ribbon of ribbed silk. Inside the lid is a calligraphic inscription, with a typewritten slip of paper stuck inside translating the Japanese thus: ‘These textile fragments were purchased by my revered father at the Hōryūji Temple in Meiji 20 (1887) and treasured by him. They are inherited by myself. Kenkichi Tomimoto.’  \r\n\r\nWritten on the same slip in Bernard Leach’s handwriting is: ‘Very early Japanese fine weaving. These 8th cent. fragments were given to me 13.VI.71 as Tomimoto V. old friend from Ishida’. A handwritten label on the bottom of the box reads: ‘From Ishida (Tomimoto’s mistress)’ and then ‘G. Wingfield Digby’ in pencil.\r\n\r\nHōryūji in Nara is one of the most important Buddhist temples in Japan. It was founded in 607, shortly after Buddhism had been introduced to the country.  The original building was lost to fire in 670, probably after being struck by lighting, but by 1711 the temple complex had been reconstructed. The main hall (Kondō) is now widely recognised as the world's oldest wooden building. Long venerated, Hōryūji was financially supported by the Tokugawa shogunate in the Edo Period (1615-1868) but faced difficult times in the Meiji period (1868-1912) when Shintoism was instated as the state religion. Facing a severe lack of resources, the monks at Hōryūji decided to donate many of the temple's treasures, including textiles, to the Imperial Household for which the temple was recompensed.  This collection is now in Tokyo National Museum and Hōryūj textiles are also preserved in other Japanese institutions. It seems possible, therefore, that small items such as textile fragments could have been sold to enthusiastic individual collectors such as Tomimoto Toyokichi, who had a deep interest in arts and literature, particularly those of China. The fragments bear similarities to surviving Hōryū-ji textiles in Japanese collections and appear to date from the 7th- 8th century, having been been made in Japan or imported from China. \r\n\r\nThe small fragments treasured and mounted in an album by Tomimoto Toyokichi, were inherited by Tomimoto Kenkichi (1886-1963), who was only 11 when his father died. In 1908, while studying at Tokyo School of Art, Tomimoto Kenkichi spent a year living in London. He frequently visited the V&amp;A, creating some 800 sketches of exhibits ranging from Iranian carpets to medieval European metalwork. Returning to Japan, Tomimoto met Bernard Leach (1887-1979), accompanying the British artist to a pottery decorating party that inspired them both on careers that would lead to their recognition as two of the most influential ceramicists of the 20th century. After Tomimoto’s death, Ishida Fukie, who had been his companion in later years, gave the sample book to Leach in recognition of the friendship between the two men. At some point, presumably just before or after Leach’s own death, the album was given to his good friend George Wingfield Digby (1911-1989), who had been Keeper of Textiles at the V&amp;A from 1945 to 1971. \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n","artistMakerPerson":[],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"silk (textile)","id":"AAT243428"}],"techniques":[{"text":"weaving","id":"AAT53642"},{"text":"embroidering","id":"AAT53653"},{"text":"resist dyeing","id":"AAT53053"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Woven, embroidered and resist-dyed fragments of silk","categories":[{"text":"Textiles","id":"THES48885"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"EAS","id":"THES48596"},"images":["2018LF7643","2018LF6907"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"011","id":"THES326560"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Sample book","id":"AAT27337"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Japan","id":"x29399"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"Fragments from China and Japan "}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"8th century","earliest":"0700-01-01","latest":"0800-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"Fragments "},{"date":{"text":"19th century","earliest":"1800-01-01","latest":"1900-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"Album"}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Mr and Mrs G Wingfield Digby","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Length","value":"9.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"album when closed","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"7.9","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"album when closed","note":""},{"dimension":"Length","value":"12.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"box","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"10.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"box","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"These textile fragments were purchased by my revered father at the Horyuji Temple in Meiji 20 (1887) and treasured by him. They are inherited by myself. Kenkichi Tomimoto.","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Translation, on typewritten slip of paper, of Japanese calligraphic inscription "},{"content":"'Very early Japanese fine weaving. These 8th cent. fragments were given to me 13.VI.71 as Tomimoto V. old friend from Ishida.'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Written on the same paper as the typewritten translation in Bernard Leach's handwriting."},{"content":"'From Ishida (Tomimoto’s mistress)'\r\n'G. Wingfield Digby'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Handwritten label on the bottom of the box"}],"objectHistory":"<u>Provenance</u>: Textile fragments purchased by Tomimoto Toyochiki at Hōryūji Temple in Nara in 1887; inherited by his son Tomimoto Kenkichi around 1897; given by Ishida Fukie, Tomimoto's partner, to Bernard Leach, 13 June 1971; given or bequeathed by Bernard Leach to George Wingfield Digby; given to the V&A by Mr and Mrs G Wingfield Digby, 1983.\r\n\nTomimoto Kenkichi (1886-1963) was a Japanese potter and printmaker, designated a Living National Treasure in 1955 .  Bernard Leach (1887-1879) was also a highly eminent ceramicist, known as the 'Father of British studio pottery'. George Wingfield Digby was Keeper of Textiles at the V&A from 1945-1971. He and his wife Cornelia were collectors of studio pottery and gifted a vase by Leach in his memory in 1979 (C.157-1979). \n\nOn 6 November 1983, Digby wrote to Verity Wilson, the curator of East Asian textiles at the V&amp;A, saying that he had 'a small booklet of silk fragments from the Horyuji which I want to offer on behalf of Bernard Leach. It was given to him by Kenkichi Tomimoto (calligraphist &amp; potter) whose father had acquired it at Nara in 1887. Only a trifle, but not without interest, and a few nice snippets'.  \nArchive file MA/1/W2516 \n\n","historicalContext":"For illustrations of similar but larger pieces of textile still in the Horyuji see Matsumoto Kaneo, <u>Jodai-gire: 7th and 8th Century Textiles in Japan from the Shoso-in and Horyuji</u>, Kyoto: Shikosha, 1984. NAL Bibliographic Ref. No.: 500.F.54","briefDescription":"Album of textile fragments, of embroidered, woven and resist-dyed silk, Japan, the fragments 8th century, the album 19th century","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Simmons, Pauline, 'An Interim Report on Ancient Textile Collections in Japan' in <u>Bulletin de Liaison du CIETA</u> 15, 1963, p.22"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["FE.149-1983"],"accessionNumberNum":"149","accessionNumberPrefix":"FE","accessionYear":1983,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-04-20","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-25","availableToBook":false}}