A Resist Dyed Cotton Noren: Indigo Dyed Curtain

early twentieth century
52 1/2" x 38", 133.5 cm x 96.5 cm

This is a three panel, resist-dyed cotton noren, a noren being a traditional curtain that acts as a shop sign or a kind of cover for an entrance way, depending how the noren is used.  

When noren are used as shop signs they are hung in the doorway of a business to announce the shop is open, however they also provided a barrier between the dust and chaos of the street and the inside of the shop or home.

Additionally noren incite some sort of psychological effect by delineating a transition between outside and inside.

This particular one is dyed in dark indigo dye on heavy cotton. The stitched finishing is done by machine.

The design is charming and unusual. It shows a centrally placed hiragna syllable, "na" which sits under a roof-like marking, often signifying a business. There is a lone dot, a kind of full moon effect, on the right of this roof like image. Three kanji or Chinese characters occupy the lower half of the left hand panel.

The cotton is nicely worn and shows some areas of scuffing, a nice detail, and there is an attempt to illustrate this on the images attached here.

This is a really charming noren in good, used condition with a handsome design.