Japanese Ceremonial Silk Wall Tapestry

Four auspicious motifs. One Nishijin gold ground. Woven once in Kyoto.

The Oshidori-Goshoguruma is mounted from a Fukuro-obi (袋帯) handwoven in the Nishijin (西陣) district of Kyoto in Kinran (金襴) - metallic gold thread woven directly into the silk warp, dimensional and structural, shifting with the room's light in a way no print or coating ever does. The composition carries four motifs assembled for a single occasion of consequence: Oshidori (鴛鴦) mandarin ducks - the symbol of enduring love and fidelity, the only paired bird motif in the collection; Goshoguruma (御所車), the imperial carriage, the highest mark of aristocratic status; Tsuru (鶴) cranes in flight; and Matsu (松) pine. On a Fukuro-obi this density of auspicious imagery means one thing - a wedding, or its equivalent. The Nishijin Fukuro-obi is the highest-grade obi construction: double-layered, woven face and lining simultaneously on the drawloom at a density single-layer weaving cannot match. The Kinran gold is not on the surface - it is built into the structure of the fabric, present at different depths through the weave, which is why it never reads as flat.

At the atelier we cut a length from the Fukuro-obi, redesigned the composition for vertical wall format, and lined the back with undyed support cloth to carry the considerable weight of the gold thread structure. The piece is mounted between handmade hardwood bars at the top and bottom, finished with a leather hanging cord, and supplied ready to hang. The bars are part of the work, not a separate purchase.

The Oshidori-Goshoguruma belongs in a principal room furnished for permanence - alongside dark walnut, aged brass, deep velvet, ivory plaster. The drawing room of a private residence, the entrance of a luxury hotel that wants the threshold to carry weight, the central wall of a fine-dining restaurant. A piece for the collector who knows what a Fukuro-obi is, or for the buyer who does not yet know and will spend the next decade glad they chose it.

Each tapestry arrives with its own passport from the atelier — a handmade record of the obi's first life, the composition that was cut from it, the lining and mounting it received, signed and dated in Amsterdam.

Dimensions: Approx. 100 × 35 cm displayed

Each tapestry arrives complete with its mounting hardware.