Japanese

A brilliant design of large chrysanthemum blossoms and miscanthus plumes beneath a gold grid reminiscent of a bamboo basket or fence.

The pattern calls to mind classical verses with chrysanthemum or miscanthus plume imagery.

hisakata no
kumo no ue nite
miru kiku wa
amatsuhoshi to zo
ayamatare keru

We were caught off guard,
we might inadvertently
think of them as stars --
those chrysanthemums growing
above the celestial clouds.

Toshiyuki no Ason Kokin Wakashu, no 269. Translation by Helen Craig McCullough, Kokin Wakashu (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1985) p. 67.

hanasusuki
ware koso shita ni
omoishika
ho ni idete hito ni
musubarenikeri

You were the object,
O fair tassled miscanthus,
of my secret love,
but now ripened into plume
you are bound to another.

Fujiwara Nakahira no Ason Kokin Wakashu, no 748. Translation by Helen Craig McCullough, Kokin Wakashu (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1985) p. 165.