This design references many elements of the arts and culture of Edo-period Japan. It features a pair of black tailed jackrabbits in the foreground corners, with a third floating behind while strung up to a paper lantern. The foremost jackrabbits are wearing miniature kawari kabuto (strange helmets), featuring stylised metal and lacquer rabbit ears, and between them rests a similar helmet in the form of a crouching rabbit. These helmets are based on true artefacts from Edo-period Japan. The central floating jackrabbit is sporting a woven, tasselled cloth bearing a famous samurai crest, while the lantern above is daubed with the word ‘rabbit’. A variety of traditional paper lanterns are strung from the top border, and a square trellis-style partition is visible behind, a nod to a detail in many antique woodblock prints. Behind the protagonists is a layered, grassy hillside teeming with white rabbits and silver reeds, and a round, glowing moon in the sky. The upper and lower borders feature lacquered and ivory animal-shaped menuki, tiny carved sword grips created in almost-matching pairs. Above and below the menuki sits a woven style border based around the handle grip of a samurai sword. The outer edges are lined with a striped flagpole tied at the corners and looped samurai rope. Throughout the design, details and measurements are noted in Japanese hand-script, echoing ancient zoological manuscripts from the 17th century. A haiku is scrawled down the left-hand side of the illustration, and a stamp/seal bearing a silhouetted rabbit and the name Sabina Savage brands the top left corner.
Translation of Sabina’s haiku within this design:
Silently, at dusk,
A hare is flying over
A hundred rabbits
70% Wool/30% Silk
Lined In 100% Cashmere
100cm x 170cm
Double Sided
Made In England
Dry Clean Only