Plum blossom

Katagami stencil depicting plum blossom against a background of dense stripes possibly representing water. Plum blossom is a late-Winter or early-Spring flower. This is one of around 400 Japanese 'katagami' stencils which are part of the Silver Studio Collection. The stencils were produced in Japan as a way of applying patterns to fabric, mainly kimonos. The katagami collected by the Silver Studio all date from the 1860s and 70s, and were used by the Studio's designers as reference material via which to produce their own Japanese-inspired patterns.