17th Century Japanese Screen. Flowers & Birds of Winter and Early Spring.
Signed Unkoku Toyu (1660-1716)
Flowers & Birds of Winter and Early Spring
A Six-panel Japanese Screen. Ink, color and gold leaf on paper.
This later 17th century Japanese screen is signed Unkoku Tōyū (1660–1716), a leading figure of the Unkoku school in the early Edo period. Tōyū was the eldest son of Unkoku Tōji, and he carried forward a lineage that deliberately anchored itself in the authority of Sesshū Tōyō.
The mood of the scene is observational and seasonal, not emblematic of power as were many screens from the more wide-spread Kano school. The composition is unified by wind and atmosphere. Everything — bamboo, plum, reeds, water, birds — participates in a single directional force moving from left to right. Unlike certain later screens that flatten elements across the surface, this composition preserves a sense of depth. Yet the recession is moderated by gold clouds and frontal placement of forms. The result is a balanced tension between depth and surface. The compositional structure — with its expansive sweep across the panels — reflects the decorative ambition of Momoyama screen...
Category
Late 17th Century Japanese Edo Antique Asia
