Japanese Contemporary Red White Gold Brocade Hand-Crafted Oshie Decorative Art

Oshie (literally, “pressed pictures”) is a traditional Japanese art form dating back to the Edo Period (1603-1868), and is said to have been born of the reluctance of the ladies of the court and elite women of status to discard the extraordinary silk kimonos and brocaded obi they had donned for a lifetime. The solution was to transform these opulent fabrics into stunning works of art.

Highly detailed Oshie pieces contain hundreds of small pieces expertly aligned, to recreate the works of Japan’s most celebrated traditional paintings in the minutest details, notably in the beloved bijin-ga (beautiful women) tradition. Oshie resembles a carefully crafted very intricate jigsaw puzzle comprising numerous intricate pieces of wadded kimono silk and brocade fabric expertly put together to create a relief design art piece, an undulating three-dimesional picture. Painstaking and time-consuming attention to details is entailed in recreating each elaborate kimono, head wear and intricate painting of facial features in miniature-like exactitude. The end product is a mesmerizing piece with a surprising three-dimensional effect.

The creator of this signed piece has created extraordinarily intricate and detailed Oshie pieces for over three decades. She prides herself in using the best available antique and vintage kimono and obi fabrics to recreate the works of Japan’s most celebrated traditional paintings, most notabaly in Bijinga (literally “picture of a beautiful woman”) tradition. Oshie pieces of this magnificent quality are very hard to find in Japan. There are only a handful of artists who are still actively producing Oshie pieces.

The frame is not included.

Dimensions: H 38.5 in, W 33 in, D 2 in.