Woman's Overrobe (Uchikake) with Books and Mandarin Orange Branches

Woman's Overrobe (Uchikake) with Books and Mandarin Orange Branches

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Books with varying decorative covers appear amid the colorful fruit and flowers on the mandarin orange branches of this outer robe (uchikake). The presence of books reflects the rise in publishing and literacy during the Edo period, while the poetic and congratulatory themes of the covers evoke the aristocratic culture of the Heian period (794–1185) and auspicious patterns associated with celebration. See, for example, the dewy autumn grasses on the red book on the back of the right sleeve, and the cranes in flight on the white book on the back of the left sleeve. In the late Edo period, outer robes of this type were made as formal garments for young women from wealthy merchant families to wear for weddings and special occasions.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Woman's Overrobe (Uchikake) with Books and Mandarin Orange BranchesWoman's Overrobe (Uchikake) with Books and Mandarin Orange BranchesWoman's Overrobe (Uchikake) with Books and Mandarin Orange BranchesWoman's Overrobe (Uchikake) with Books and Mandarin Orange BranchesWoman's Overrobe (Uchikake) with Books and Mandarin Orange Branches

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.