Unknown Maker, Japanese

In Japan, the butterfly motif came to find favor, paradoxically, among the warrior class (samurai), who sought emblems for use as a family crest. It is also thought that the art of mulberry stencils (katagami) derives from techniques used to embellish the samurai’s leather armor. Some of the most popular and technically challenging katagami are small-scale designs (komon), which were favored by the samurai for their expression of the aesthetic principle of astringency (shibusa). By the late 19th century, large numbers of katagami found their way to private collections and museums in the West. The RISD Museum began building its collection at the turn of the 20th century, and started exhibiting the stencils shortly thereafter. The beauty of the stencils as objects of art in their own right was valued from the start, and today they serve as exquisite examples of an art form that has been nearly forgotten due to the advent of modern printing techniques. Even in the 19th century, designers looked to these stencils for inspiration, and their designs are as fresh now as they were a century ago.