Pair of Japanese Two-Fold Screens with Flower Arrangements and Rare Birds

A pair of six-panel folding screens with peonies and other flowers 19th century Each 72.5 by 241 cm Small and elegant screens with an ideal scene depicting peonies and other flower species...

This pair of screens belongs to a genre of lyrical paintings of flowers, grasses, and other plants that flourished around the middle of the 17th century and became a specialty of the Sôtatsu studio. The use of a rather complex composition of clusters of flowers and the puddling of ink was initiated by Tawaraya Sôtatsu, the founder of the Rimpa School, who was active from 1600 until 1642. The screens are abstract and decorative but there is, at the same time, a keen sense of naturalism not only in the attention to accurate detail but in the profusion of vegetation. The passage of the year is symbolized by the variety of plants that bloom in different seasons. The tarashikomi - here used on leaves, petals and trunks - is a Classic Rinpa technique in which pale black ink or a color is brushed onto an area of a painting and then either darker ink, or the same or a contrasting color, is dropped into the first before it has completely dried, creating an effect of pooled colors with softly blurred edges. Its delicacy, preciousness, and effeminacy are identified with the over-refinement of its patrons, while the vigor, monochromatic discipline, sharp observation, and virile forms of the Kano school are a testament to the vitality of the rising warrior class. The plants are almost all identifiable: in the summer-spring part, you can find wheat, buttercups, irises, begonias, hydrangeas, coral bells...

The scene is dominated by a plum tree in bloom under which a couple of paradise birds is courting. The screen is crossed by a luxuriant creek, a typical feature of the springtime.  

In the pleasure districts, the stringent codes were meant to be forgotten. In this painting, some clients are watching from outside the teahouse, while some are entering, one of them...

This painting represents a man waiting under a dark tree. The composition is extremely simple but suggestive. The artist, with few elements, can, in fact, create a vivid and dynamic scene, based on the tension between the strong ink stain that renders the tree and the elegant figure of the man, dressed in an aristocratic robe. Painter and designer, Kamisaka Sekka...

Signed: Josaku Meda. 60. Singed on the back: "Paysage humain" N°14 / 7.1960 / Josaku MAEDA / à Paris Exhibitions: Turin (Italy), Gissi Gallery, Collettiv...

Mineral pigment on gold silk. Signature reads: Nana Keicho Ho, Shinsho, Gachu ; Seal reads: Soju ; Seal on reverse reads: Koto Fusai.

An amazing pair of matching antique Japanese folding screen predating 1812-1813, most likely from Kano School. Six panels each depict C...

Six-panel screen of the "Rinpa school", painted with inks on gold leaf. Colorful and sunny variety of flowers painted with great skill by an anonymous Japanese artist, who skilfully...

A two panel Japanese folding screen depicting an owl and bamboo on a white background. Signed and sealed Kou-ro. 4998

A traditional style Japanese four panel folding screen depicting a flower cart full of red and white flowers. 10198

Japanese Meiji/Taisho period two panel folding screen richly painted on Mulberry paper and depicting chrysanthemums and morning glories on a ivory background. The piece is framed by ...