Four Seasons Dot Grid — Nantong Picked-Dot Homespun
A dark indigo checked homespun animated by tiny red, green and white picked details, creating a dense field of small handmade marks across a firm old woven ground.
- Object ID
- TA-NT-0014
- Origin
- Nantong · Jiangsu, China
- Period
- c. 1960s–1970s
- Dating confidence
- estimated
- Material
- Handspun cotton
- Dimensions
- Approx. 320 × 39 cm total available length
- Technique
- Handwoven homespun · Picked-dot weave
- Pattern
- Four Seasons dot grid · Picked coloured dots · Woven grid
- Colours
- Deep indigo blue · Black · Red · Green · Soft white
Object condition
Good vintage condition overall with handspun slubs, loose fibres, uneven yarns, old fold marks, light fading, edge wear and other weaving irregularities.
Identification notes
The grid and coloured dots are woven / handworked rather than printed. Small red, green and white marks sit inside the dark checked structure and give the cloth extra rhythm and depth.
The current listing is sold by 50 cm; the recorded total available continuous length is approximately 320 cm.
The working title “Four Seasons Dot Grid” interprets the four small coloured marks as a seasonal blessing. That symbolic reading is catalogued as an interpretive folk reading rather than a documented maker statement.
The approximately 39 cm width and substantial handspun texture are consistent with older narrow-width household cloth.
Small picked marks inside a strong woven grid
This textile demonstrates how a restrained checked ground can become highly individual through minute picked colour details rather than large pictorial motifs.
Its very long surviving length makes the repetition and handworked rhythm particularly easy to study.
