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Obi (Belt)

Unknown artist, Meiji period (1868–1912), 1875/1900

4.13 m × 84 cm

A storey and a half of a house. Stood on end it is 2.4 people tall.

Against things you know the size of

Height: 84 cm
Width: 4.13 m
Medium: Silk and gold-leaf-over-lacquered-paper strip, plain weave with plain interlacings of secondary binding warps and supplementary patterning wefts; both selvages present
Kind: Textile
Made in: Japan
Where the measurement comes from: Measured by the museum. The dimension is the one recorded by the institution that holds the work.
As the museum records it: 413.2 × 69.5 cm (162 5/8 × 27 3/8 in.)
Why this differs from the record: Recorded as 70 cm × 4.13 m. Hung to match the photograph.
Credit: Gift of Emily Crane Chadbourne

Five questions, answered from its own record. What is AGAI?

How big is it?: 4.13 m × 84 cm. A storey and a half of a house. Measured by the museum.
When was it made, and when is it everyone’s?: Made Meiji period (1868–1912), 1875/1900. It is in the public domain, and The Art Institute of Chicago publishes it for open use.
Whose is it?: Everyone’s to see. It is held by The Art Institute of Chicago: Gift of Emily Crane Chadbourne.
How was it made?: Silk and gold-leaf-over-lacquered-paper strip, plain weave with plain interlacings of secondary binding warps and supplementary patterning wefts; both selvages present, made in Japan, Japanism.
Who speaks for it?: Its record at The Art Institute of Chicago. Measured by the museum. This gallery adds nothing it cannot cite.

One email. The smallest thing in the collection, the largest, and two that hang well together.

Scored on colour, shape, era and scale, the same way the gallery hangs them.