@cjmust30,
Thanks for the additional information. I wanted to see the sides so I could see if the fabric had been woven this width (no), or if it was cut from a wider piece, which was the case because of the fringe on the sides.
I asked about the dimensions, because if it had been a narrower piece that was woven in that width (say, 15 to 20 inches wide) that would have suggested that the fabric was woven in Japan. But it is wider than that, and was cut from an even wider piece of fabric, so that doesn't suggest it was a Japanese fabric.
The lack of finishing on the edges, and the unfinished embroidery, suggests to me that this piece was never finished, and may not have been intended to have this appearance when it was finished.
It appears to me that the stitching was intended as a preparation or set up for something else to be done. Possibly, the existing stitches might have been removed completely, when the item was finished. But I don't know of any kind of embroidery or textile technique that would use such a set up technique.
It was reminding me of a dying technique called shibori in Japanese. This is loosely translated as "tie dye" in English, but professional shibori in Japan was extremely precise, carefully executed, and produced very beautiful fabrics. Many shibori techniques rely on precisely placed stitches, which are placed evenly (but not necessarily in regular or repeating patterns) all over the fabric. Once the fabric has been covered with stitches, the stitching threads are pulled tightly to gather the fabric into a predetermined pattern, and then dyed. The tight gathers prevent dye from reaching the fabric, so this produces an overall pattern. I thought this might have been a demonstration piece, used to teach or explain the process. But, since the fabric does not appear to be Japanese, that doesn't support this theory. It might have been for a similar technique done somewhere else, I suppose.
I don't know why an unfinished piece, with stitching that does not appear to meet the standards of quality for an embroidered piece, would have been mounted like this, in such a careful way to protect it, and allow both sides to be examined.
This might be a way of protecting a historically significant piece, to conserve it. That might have been done for a museum piece.
Or, it could be a demonstration piece, showing one step in a process, and was mounted like this so it could be used for teaching without it being damaged. But, as I said, I don't know what embroidery technique it might be. I'm familiar with (not an expert in) a number of advanced embroidery techniques, including medieval techniques used in Europe, and those used in Japan and China. I don't recognize this embroidery technique.
So, at this point, my best guess is that it's a demonstration piece for some embroidery technique that I'm not familiar with.
If anyone is able to identify the letters or language, and provide a translation, then I'm completely wrong, and I will be very happy to hear about it.
