A six-fold paper screen painted in ink and colour on a gold ground with grape vines hanging from a pergola and woven fence amongst golden clouds, the details in gin-sunago (cut silver leaf) and moriage (raised design).
The metal mounts are decorated with cloisonné enamel, a special detail rarely seen on screen mounts.
Japan, 17th/18th century, Edo period.
Grapes represent the autumn season and have been regarded as an auspicious symbol of fertility and prosperity since ancient times. Also the Japanese word of grape ‘budō’ is the same word for martial arts. Often paired with squirrels (‘risu’ in Japanese meaning, to follow discipline), the subject was a favourite of the samurai class.
Designs incorporating grape vines have been used for ceramic and lacquer works as well as paintings from early times and screens depicting this subject matter seem to have been particularly popular in the early Edo period, however only a few examples are known today.
These known examples depicting grape vines are rendered in a similar manner using gold leaf and moriage (raised design):
A pair of screens from the Kano School housed in the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum (17th century, Momoyama period)
A pair in the Gardner collection (17th century, accession no. P14e3)
There are another comparable pair of 17th-century screens housed in the Okura Museum of Art, Tokyo and there are a pair of sugido (cedar wood doors) with the same subject housed in the Nagoya Castle, Aichi prefecture.
Paravent à six volets peint à l'encre et à la couleur sur fond doré, représentant des vignes suspendues à une pergola et une clôture tressée parmi des nuages dorés, avec des détails en gin-sunago (feuille d'argent découpée) et moriage (motifs en relief).
Les montures métalliques sont décorées d'émail cloisonné...
Category
Late 17th Century Japanese Edo Antique Enamel Furniture
MaterialsEnamel, Gold Leaf