In 1897, Menpes held a sellout exhibition in London at Dowdeswell’s Gallery, where many of his dark, luminous pictures were framed in black; others, like this little picture, were small and light, displayed in ivory-coloured frames. Menpes recalled: ‘I ordered several pieces of cotton crêpe of a certain design that I had drawn myself, and it was during the execution of this commission that I was brought into touch with the stencil-workers and dyers of the country. Stencil-cutting is one of the most beautiful arts imaginable. To see the stencil-workers cutting fantastic designs from the hard polished cardboard beneath their instruments - so delicate that it is like the tracery of a spider’s web in its tenuity - is a sight that one never forgets. Some of the designs are so cobweb-like that single human hairs are used in parts to keep them from breaking to pieces.’ (Japan, A Record in Colour, A&C Black, 1901, p 176).