A Very Good, Heavily Patched Boro Noragi or Work Coat with Good Age
late nineteenth century
33" x 24", 84 cm x 61 cm
This is a particularly good indigo dyed boro noragi or work coat. What makes it desirable are many qualities: its good age, its hand loomed, hand spun, indigo dyed cottons, its fine wear , its interesting old cloth fragments and the many layers of old cotton cloth which are hand stitched together, the sashiko stitching being prominent.
The noragi is a rich patchwork or old cottons. The proper front showing a beautifully patterned cotton, the design being stylized hemp leaves or asa no ha which are stencil resist dyed on the cloth. Likewise the proper back of the coat is a rich collage of old cottons, the play of light against dark, fanciful against geometric, is fantastic.
Note that this noragi is missing its collar piece and its sleeves. As well, there is a tear to the proper, right hand shoulder.
But these are minor flaws to an exceptionally beautiful coat with very good age and so much warmth derived from decades of human wear.
