Set of Four Sliding Doors (Fusuma): Bamboo on Gold

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

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...

Japanese Six Panel Screen: Bamboo Grove with Beautifully Painted Bird and Meandering Stream. Excellent Rimpa School painting with very finely rendered bird, raised gold fencing, wit...

Kano School painting of a bamboo grove with blooming flowers and gold dust mists. Painted in mineral pigments on mulberry paper with gold dust and a silk brocade border.

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...

Folding screen depicting a landscape by a painter of the Rinpa school, early 19th century. Six panels painted in ink on gold leaf and "gofun" on vegetable paper. Rinpa is one of 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...

Rare set of four Japanese Showa period door panels known as Fusuma in Japanese architecture. Similar to a Shoji room divider but made of an opaque materia...