Item HT 43069 Handkerchief - Geisha and Lantern, Cream Silk, Japan, circa 1933

Summary

This silk handkerchief features a printed image of a Japanese geisha in kimono and geta sandals, facing a bridge. Her okobo style geta sandal suggests she is a 'maiko', or geisha in training. The handkerchief may have been made in Japan for European/American export or appeared at the Japanese Pavilion in the 1933 Chicago World Fair, where other handkerchiefs from this collection were acquired.

It belonged to Emily Hannah Francis, of Garden City, and was part of a collection of 145 souvenir and commemorative handkerchiefs put together by Emily, sent to her by pen friends from around the world, up to her death in 1943.

Physical Description

Heavy white silk handerchief with machine-stitched edge and printed image. Image is of the back of a Japanese woman leaning beneath a floral tree bough and a lamp inscribed with Japanese characters. She is wearing kimono, platform sandals and decorative hair pieces.