Field Guide No. 003

Layers made to rest on.

From the archive

Child's sleeping mat (boro shikimono), late 19th century

Maker unrecorded · Japan

The object

Layers made for use.

Layers of indigo-dyed cotton scraps are pieced together and secured with dense stitching in this late-19th-century Japanese sleeping mat.

The Cooper Hewitt notes that mats of this kind were used directly for sleeping or placed beneath a futon.

Collection facts, materials and technique follow the Cooper Hewitt record; the use note follows the museum's context article.

How It Holds

01 / The pieces

Stripes, checks and faded blues make the separate cotton pieces easy to follow across the mat.

02 / The stitching

Dense visible stitching holds the surface together rather than hiding its assembly.

03 / The scale

The broad rectangular form keeps the object’s intended use present in the photograph.

Close reading of the credited collection image. Object facts follow the linked museum records.

Maker: Maker unrecorded
Place / date: Japan / late 19th century
Materials: Indigo-dyed cotton.Collection record
Technique: Pieced and stitched.Collection record
Use: The Cooper Hewitt describes mats of this kind as used directly for sleeping or placed beneath a futon.Cooper Hewitt context
Collection: Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. Museum purchase from General Acquisitions Endowment Fund
Accession: 2017-15-1
Publication: Public-domain image released under CC0 by the Smithsonian.