Japanese Two Panel Screen: Bamboo and Manchurian Crane

Japanese two panel screen: Amorous Cranes and Turtles. In Japan, cranes symbolize fidelity as they mate for life and turtles symbolize longevity. Additionally, this screen also has the Japanese motif of sho-chiku-bai, or the three friends of winter (pine, plum, and bamboo). So called the three friends of winter because all three flourish during the cold months. This screen was originally fusuma doors...

Bamboo grove on a knoll with stylized gold mist. Mineral pigments on gold leaf with silk brocade border.

Early Kano School painting of pine trees overlooking two beautifully painted cranes and floral design in a natural setting by water’s edge. Mineral pig...

Symbolizing the Sun, gold is often used in shrines and temples in Japan. Gold has been extensively recognized to represent wealth, while bamboo is said to bring good luck due to its ability to regenerate in the forest. A beautiful composition of the two together...

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...

Asian Folding Hand Woven 2 Panel Screen of Cranes.

Stunning four-panel Japanese screen decorated with a traditional scene of cranes and a majestic pine tree on a gold background. The painting technique highlights the details of the b...

Japanese Kano School Edo period two-panel screen depicting flowering prunus and bamboo on a rock formation, with colorful birds next to a body of water. ...