THE Ashmolean Museum is getting a taste of the Orient, thanks to its new exhibition.

Threads of Silk and Gold contains ornamental textiles from Japan’s Meiji era, between 1868 and 1912. It features 40 examples of Meiji textiles from the Kiyomizu-Sannenzaka Museum in Kyoto as well, as some from the Ashmolean’s collection.

Dr Clare Pollard, curator of Japanese collections at the Beaumont Street museum, said: “We are honoured to be the very first museum to exhibit this extraordinary collection to the public.

“These magnificent textiles are rare survivors of a Japanese art form that was once enormously influential, but is little known today.”

The works were very influential for Victorian interior designers and Impressionist painters. The exhibition opens today and runs until Sunday, January 27.