Listen to a verbal description of the object intended for someone with low to no vision, or anyone looking for a closer look at the object.

Transcript:

This garment is a Child’s kimono. It was made in Japan in the 20th century and measures 2 feet 6 inches tall by two feet four inches wide. The garment is made of cotton. We are facing the back of a cotton robe with wide sleeves that curve slightly at the bottom half of the sleeves. At the top of the robe, there is a collar that rises about 2-3 inches above the shoulder. The torso and bottom of the robe form an A-line shape, with the lower half of the sleeves intersecting at about the halfway point to delineate the portion of the robe that would clothe the torso and the portion that would clothe down to one's knees. This kimono is patterned. The base color is a dark blue, like the color of the night sky. This deep, inky blue was achieved by dying the thread multiple times with indigo. There is a pattern of vertical lines and square shapes that look geometric from farther away. I will describe a portion of the main design and then describe how many times it is repeated. The main design is two parallel icy blue lines that are interspersed every 6-7 inches, approximately, with a thick outline of a square that is also that shade of icy blue. There are four darker blue designs in the night blue shade in the center of the outlined square. These designs look like hashtags or the pound sign, with four thick lines forming a square at the center and small portions of each line jutting out from where they each intersect. This design is repeated on the robe, from left to right, about 11 times. This garment is made using double ikat, in which both the warp and weft yarns are tied and dyed before being woven into a single textile. This produces a brushed effect when looking very up close, and the Japanese word for ikat is kasuri, which is said to be like the end of a calligraphic brush stroke. With your face inches away from the garment, the edges of each light blue line or square appears to fade into the dark blue: first cross-hatched, then in smaller pinpoints. At this proximity, you can notice that the thick night blue and icy blue lines, whose contrast is strong on this artwork, bleed into each other in places.