Details: This is a one of a kind original Japanese Meiji period C1900 stencil pattern "katagami" for dying textiles "Katazome”.  Japanese paper stencils were used in a process of resist-dying textiles.  These stencils are made of two or more layers of handmade mulberry paper (Kozo) laminated together and waterproofed with persimmon tannin. Smoke curing gives the paper additional stiffness and turns it into a rich brown.  Some of them are reinforced with a network of silk threads sandwiched between the layers of paper.  The newer katagami have the silk on one side of the paper.  The stencils embody Japanese design features such as a preference for asymmetry, A flattened pictorial space, the stylization of natural forms, the positive and negative treatment of the same element, the combination of abstract and naturalistic elements, the illusion of depth created by overlapping planes, and the use of pattern or texture to fill silhouettes.