Japanese 2-Panel Furosaki’byôbu 風炉先屏風 'Tea-Ceremony Folding Screen' with Dragons

A charming medium-size six-panel byôbu (folding screen) with a vibrant polychrome painting of a rooster with its family amidst a luscious flower garden. The garden is filled with al...

A very colourful and captivating large six-panel byôbu (folding screen) with a refined continuous painting of a luscious flower garden filled with many different types of chrysanthemums (kiku), next to a winding river. This multi-coloured painting is set on a shiny gold-leaf background, and the chrysanthemum flowers are painted by using shell paste (gofun) in low relief. Several clutches with a great variety of chrysanthemum flowers are in full bloom and they each show their unique form and colour. Varying from white, red, yellow and pink. The flowers bloom all around and on different kinds of bamboo fences and trellises. In Japan chrysanthemums are believed to represent happiness, love, longevity and joy. The panels are surrounded by two silk borders, a thin black one, and a wide brown one. The screen is protected by a black and red negoro’nuri...

A nice, low, very decorative 6-panel byôbu (folding screen) features a continuous genre painting capturing various facets of daily life during the Edo period. It includes scenes such...

Fascinating large six-panel byôbu (folding screen) with a detailed genre painting on goldish silver leaf with different scenes of people at work in a rural mountain village during th...

Beautiful, large two-panel byôbu (room divider) with a serene painting of red-leaved bamboo and rocks on an oxidized silver leaf background. Silver leaf continuously undergoes the process of oxidation, which creates a beautiful aged patina. On the left an inscription from a ‘Zekku’ poem by the Chinese poet Yang Zai (1271?1323), titled: Shan shang zhu (bamboo (painted) on a fan). Translated as : Why would people plant a lot of bamboos? The shade of a single culm is also beautiful. In the autumn night it rocks on the wind, And the fresh sound echoes in my dream. Dated: Shôwa, the year kôshin (1938). Signature unknown...

Amazing 260 year old Japanese kakejiku (hanging scroll) with a refined painting of the nine headed dragon deity, with a Buddhist flame as a crown, an...

The 19th Century Six-Panel Japanese folding screen "Byōbu" usually used in the most important Japanese house to stop wind and also to separate different space of the same big room de...

Ink (Sumi) on paper. Signature and Seal read: Kishi Ganku It is backed with paper covered in gold and silver flake. Kishi Ganku (1749 or 1756-1839) was the...

Paravento a sei pannelli di scuola giapponese Kano: paesaggio con bellissime ed eleganti gru vicino al fiume, con alberi di pino e sakura. Dipinto a mano con pigmenti minerali ed inc...

A four-panel Japanese Byobu folding screen depicting a floral scene with birds. Japan, C.1950 Showa Period An attractive example, beautifully h...

Three Friends of Winter Nakajima Raisho (1796-1871) Late Edo period, circa 1850 Ink and gold leaf on paper. This is a double-sided Japanese Furosaki or tea-ceremony screen from the mid 19th century; bamboo and plum on the front, young pines the back. It by Nakajima Raisho, a master painter of the Maruyama school in the late Edo and early Meiji periods. In this work Raisho combines exquisite ink brushwork with large open spaces of brilliant gold-leaf to inspire the viewers imagination. Rather than naturalism, he is searching for the phycological impression of the motifs, resulting in abstraction and stylization. His simplification of the motifs the result of looking to capture the inner nature of the objects. This art motif is known as Sho Chiku Bai, or the Three Friends of Winter. Evergreen pine connotes steadfastness, bamboo suggests both strength and flexibility, while plum blossoms unfurling on snow-laden branches imply hardiness. Combined, this trio is emblematic of Japanese new year. Chinese literati were the first to group the three plants together due to their noble characteristics. Like these resilient plants flowering so beautifully in winter, it was expected of the scholar-gentleman to cultivate a strong character with which he would be able to show the same degree of perseverance and steadfastness even during times of adverse conditions. The screen would have been placed near the hearth of a room used for the Japanese tea ceremony, shielding the fire from draughts and also forming a stimulating and decorative backdrop behind the tea utensils. It would have been used in the Hatsugama, or first tea-ceremony of the new year. Nakajima Raisho (1796-1871) originally studied under Watanabe Nangaku before entering the school of Maruyama Ozui. He was the highest ranking Maruyama school painter at the end of the Edo period and was known as one of the ‘Four Heian Families’ along with Kishi...

Mineral pigments on silk, mounted on a gold panel, in silk border. Signature and seal read: Yoho.