Circa 1900 Japanese Pine Screen Pair. Aged Dragons by Suzuki Shonen.

Pines and Cranes Anonymous. Kyoto Kano School. Late 17th/early 18th centuries, circa 1700. Pair of six-panel Japanese folding screens. Ink, gofun, pigment and gold leaf on paper. This bold composition presents two pine trees extending to the left and right across a gold leaf background. One tree is silhouetted against a green ground, golden clouds obscuring its true size, the other stretches across a stylized waterway. The pines are paired with Manchurian cranes with red crests and snow white plumage. Both have been highly auspicious motifs in East Asia since Chinese antiquity. Here the artist utilized fluid and instinctive ink brushstrokes to define the trunk, branches and tail feathers, in strong contrast to the precision and sharp angularity of the crane’s legs and beaks. The adoption of this vast metallic painting support required an unerring sense of design and composition, so that the negative space surrounding motifs could imply context for the otherwise floating pictorial elements. The brushwork detailing the trunks of the pines, the exaggerated dimensions of the pine trees and the strength and dynamism of the composition are all reminiscent of Kano Eitoku...

Kaiho Yusetsu (1598-1677) Tiger and Dragon Early Edo Period, Circa 1650 A Pair of Six-fold Japanese Screens. Ink and slight color on paper. Dimensions: Each screen: H. 171 cm x W. 380 cm (67.5’’ x 149.5’’) In this pair of early Edo period Japanese screens a group of tigers prowl in a bamboo grove whipped with fierce wind, while a dragon claws through clouds and mist. The dragon embodies elemental qualities - looming out of the mist, the coils of its body disappearing in the clouds. The dragon is calling for rain, symbolizing spring which is considered the fountain of life. On the other side, the tigers calls for the wind, symbolizing autumn which is considered the end of life. Tigers were familiar motifs within Japanese art from ancient times though the animals were imaginary to the people in the 17th century. While dragons and tigers are usually associated as sacred and ferocious, in this painting, both animals have rather amusing expressions. The tigers appear to glare at the dragon with cat-like eyes, and the look on the swirling dragon’s face appears almost affectionate - lending a playful flair to an otherwise magnificent theme. The tiger and dragon are cosmological symbols of the balancing forces in the world. Screens such as this were originally meant to express the fluctuating nature of the world. For Japanese in the early Edo period, they likely suggested the powers of the cosmos. In Japan the tiger and dragon motif was originally absorbed into the circles of Zen monasteries before spreading into the secular world. The theme especially appealed to the military classes with the Kano school, the official painters to the Shogun and the samurai, being the leading contributors. The painter of this pair of screens, Kaiho Yusetsu (1598-1677), was closely patronized by the third Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu. In his later years he worked with Kano school artists...

Tani Bunchu (1823-1876) Tiger and Dragon A pair of six-panel Japanese screens. Ink on paper. In this grand pair of Japanese Ryuko-zu screens the tiger crouches low to the ground, ...

Unkoku Toshuku (1722-1779) Crows and Pines A pair of six-panel Japanese Screens. Ink and gold leaf on paper. Dimensions: Each Screen: H. 170.5 cm x W. 375 cm Haha-cho or mynah birds, whose forms resemble crows in artwork, were commonly depicted in Japanese art. These types of paintings were originally modeled on paintings attributed to the 13th century Chinese painter Muqi (Mokkei), whose art was enormously influential in Japan. Crows only became a theme among Japanese artists from the later 1500s onward. They likely were inspired by these imported Chinese paintings of myna birds, which are not native to Japan, substituting the native species of crow instead.  The best known early examples of the depiction of Japanese crows are two Momoyama screen...

Kano School, Mineral pigments on gold leaf with silk brocade border and lacquer wood trim.

Exceptional pair of Japanese screens, 20th century Six parts, six times 45 cm wide Gold spotted paper with parts of old screens.

Antique Japanese Meiji period silk embroidered screen /room divider Byobu C.1900 Kyoto, Japan. Silk embroidered satin lacquer framed panels....

A japenese folding screen with gold leaf circa 1940. Size is H 183 W 164 cm.