Flowers of the four seasons

This pair of screens belongs to a genre of lyrical paintings of flowers, grasses, and other plants that flourished from the middle of the 17th century. The use of an abstract gold ground, a subtle and rather complex composition of clusters of flowers, and a puddling of ink (especially noticeable here in the leaves) was initiated by Tawaraya Sotatsu, who was active from 1600 until circa 1640. Painting ateliers led by Sotatsu's followers flourished into the mid-Edo period. On the whole, the identity of these followers remains a mystery; most did not sign their work but simply impressed one of Sotatsu's studio seals - especially the round, red Inen seal that appears on the example shown here - on their paintings.

These screens were once in the collection of the Koinoike family, a wealthy Osaka merchant and banking family. They were well-known collectors of Japanese art and by the late 17th century had acquired an important collection of tea-ceremony ceramics and utensils referred to as Konoike meibutsu (famous pieces of the Konoike family).