Chinese Wood Commemorative Sign

Three characters, and a whole village knew where to go.

This commemorative sign comes from Shanxi Province, China, 19th century, in lacquered and painted elm wood. Reading right to left, it says Yu Qing Tang, the name of an ancestral hall, which can be taken to mean an auspicious place to gather. Such halls gave a village somewhere to meet for celebrations, and a sign like this named the building for all who arrived. Raised black characters stand against a crackled golden ground, inside a dark molded frame with a thin red edge. Just over five feet wide, at 61 inches.

Few doors have ever needed so little further explanation.