Quiet Grid — Chongming Layered Check
A narrow, firm Chongming-style handwoven cotton with a layered blue, black and ivory grid: fine small checks sit underneath larger crossing lines.
Sold in 50 cm lengths
Width: approx. 27 cm · Recorded total: approx. 375 cm
- Quantity 1
- Approx. 50 × 27 cm
- Quantity 2
- Approx. 100 × 27 cm
- Quantity 3
- Approx. 150 × 27 cm
Multiple quantities are cut as one continuous piece whenever possible. The supplied text contains a conflicting inch conversion next to “50 cm”; the Atlas records the unambiguous 50 cm sale unit and 27 cm width. Check Etsy for live stock and price.
- Object ID
- TA-CM-0009
- Origin
- Chongming · Likely Shanghai / Jiangnan region, China
- Period
- c. 1960s–1970s
- Dating confidence
- estimated
- Material
- Handspun cotton
- Dimensions
- Approx. 375 × 27 cm recorded total; sold in 50 cm units
- Technique
- Handwoven homespun · Plain weave · Yarn-dyed weave
- Pattern
- Fine check · Larger overlaid grid lines
- Colours
- Indigo blue · Black · Natural ivory
- Washed
- Yes
Object condition
Washed and clean vintage handwoven cotton with a dense, firm, grainy and structured handle. The compact weave retains visible handspun slubs, uneven yarn thickness, tiny fibre marks, raw edges and other small handmade irregularities.
Identification notes
The supplied listing identifies the cloth as likely from Chongming, Shanghai, around the 1960s–1970s. The attribution is presented as an informed estimate based on width, construction, colours, texture and regional characteristics.
This is explicitly described as a plain-weave, yarn-dyed textile rather than a raised treadle-woven fabric. The grid is formed directly by crossing blue, black and ivory yarns.
The cloth is medium-to-heavy, firm and slightly crisp rather than loose or drapey, and is especially suited to tea mats, table textiles, book covers, bags, patchwork, visible mending, textile collage and structured garment details.
The supplied listing reads the repeated square grid as a visual language of order, balance, stability and a well-kept home. Tubu Atlas retains that as the listing’s interpretation rather than a universal proven historic meaning.
Poem supplied for the cloth — 静格 / Quiet Grid: “Blue and black threads cross in quiet lines, / Small squares holding years of village time. / Handspun cotton keeps its steady grain, / A humble cloth with an older strength.”
Care from the supplied listing: wash gently and separately in cold water; avoid bleach, long soaking and tumble drying; air dry in shade.
A double-scale grid in a very narrow cloth
Small checks and larger crossing lines create two geometric scales within one practical household textile.
The 27 cm loom width is unusually narrow in the current Atlas and is recorded as part of the object’s construction history.
