Surcoat or Vest

This garment, made with a higher quality of paper and workmanship than the haori nearby (2014.192), may well date from the last years of the Edo period (1615-1868) since the two principal patterns—interlocking sircles on the interior and floral lozenges on the exterior—were restricted to certain classes during that era. Although this surcoat lacks some of the military functionality of the example to the left (2015.283), it may be a version of a jinbaori, made at a time when samurai were bureaucrates, not warriors.-A Global View: Recent Acquisitions of Textiles, 2012-2016, April 8-September 5, 2016