Woven Tapestry, Japanese Garden Scene with Parasols and Bridge, Ornate Gilt Frame

A whole afternoon in old Japan, and it is woven, not painted.

Women in kimono gathered under a pavilion with parasols and folding fans, cherry blossom overhead, a boat drifting past, an arched bridge crossing the water behind them. Get close and the whole picture turns to thread: warp and weft, every face and every fold of silk built out of colored yarn on a loom.

This is Japonisme, the craze that hit Europe when Japan opened to the West and suddenly everybody wanted fans, screens and kimono in the parlor. Tapestry pictures exactly like this one hung in those parlors.

Behind glass with a pale blue liner, in a heavy carved gilt frame that has obviously been looked after.

The kind of piece where people walk up close, then closer, then say wait, that is fabric?