Unknown Maker, Japanese

The etiquette associated with a fukusa was that after unwrapping the gift it covered, the receiver of the gift would return the cloth to the giver.

A lotus flower, depicted here, is a symbol of purity and a relatively rare flower in Japanese art and crest designs; however, the pheasant was held in highest esteem by imperial tradition and remains today a symbol of spring. The pheasant was a subject in Japan’s first poetry anthology, the Man’yoshu (compiled ca. 760).