Meiji Period Japanese Screen, Autumn Grasses on Silver-Leaf

Flowers & Birds of Spring and Autumn Unknown artist. Japan. Meiji period, circa 1900. A pair of six-fold screens. Ink, color, gofun and gold leaf on paper. Signed: Gaga S...

A two-fold Japanese screen by the Rimpa school artist Sakai Hoitsu (1761-1828), Japan, 19th century, Edo period. This small Japanese folding screen pai...

Kishi Renzan (1804-1859) Tigers Pair of six-panel Japanese screens. Ink and gold-leaf on paper. In this monochromatic pair of six-fold Japanese screens painted on gold-leaf, Kishi Renzan has created a breathtaking composition of a family of tigers. The screens are filled with a sense of drama which is conveyed by both the subject matter and the wet, expressive brushwork. The running mountain stream and the towering waterfall allude to refreshment during the summer months and we feel the tiger families familiarity and security within their environment. Renzan’s master, Kishi Ganku...

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...

Japanese two panel screen: Moon rising through bamboo on silver leaf, Meiji period painting (1868 - 1912) of the moon rising on the horizon with a garden stone in the foreground. Lic...

Ink with accents of gold on paper. By Kodama Sanrei (1915-2002) exhibited at the 1968 Nippu-ten. About the Artist: Kodama Sanrei was born in Nagano prefecture and studied under the a...

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...

(no image) With beautiful oxblood color lacquer frame with 19th century bronze mounts.