Noren with Design of Flowering Cherry Tree

Noren with Design of Flowering Cherry Tree

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

A noren (shop curtain) hangs across the upper part of a doorway as a sort of partition and is supported by a pole passing through its loops. It is made up of several vertical panel sunder which people can easily pass through the doorway. The boldly flowering cherry tree that covers the coarse plain weave of this noren was drawn with the tsutsugaki (literally, "tube-drawing") technique. In this paste-resist dyeing process, the design is drawn with an applicator consisting of a paper cone with a metal tip that trails rice paste onto the cloth. Then the cloth is dyed, usually with indigo. The areas covered with paste resist the dye and remain white while the background, through repeated dipping and oxidation, attains a dark blue color.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Noren with Design of Flowering Cherry TreeNoren with Design of Flowering Cherry TreeNoren with Design of Flowering Cherry TreeNoren with Design of Flowering Cherry TreeNoren with Design of Flowering Cherry Tree

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.