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Lot Essay
published:
Azabu Museum of Art, and Osaka Municipal Museum of Art, eds., Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e meihin ten: Azabu bijutsukan shozo/Ukiyo-e Painting Masterpieces in the Collection of the Azabu Museum of Art, introduction by Kobayashi Tadashi, exh. cat. (Tokyo: Azabu Museum of Art; Osaka: Osaka Municipal Museum of Art, 1988), pl. 59.
Azabu Museum of Arts and Crafts, and Japan Institute of Arts and Crafts, eds., Edo no fashon, kaikan kinen ten, Part 1: Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e ni miru onnatachi no yosooi/"Fashion of Edo": Women's dress in Ukiyo-e Paintings, exh. cat. (Tokyo: Azabu Museum of Arts and Crafts, 1989), pl. 53.
Kobayashi Tadashi, ed., Azabu bijutsu kogeikan (Azabu Museum of Arts and Crafts), vol. 6 of Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e taikan (Tokyo: Kodansha, 1995), pl. 87.
This polychromed screen sprinkled with specks of lavish gold leaf combines three favorite Japanese themes: women, cherry blossoms, and beloved scenic sites. These are brought together under the traditional rubric of a blossom-viewing excursion to Kyoto's Higashiyama (Eastern Hills) district. Famous sights include Kiyomizu Temple, a gantried tour-de-force built in the ninth century, and the nearby Otowa falls, where the faithful did penance under its chilly cascade. Included also are the celebrated teahouses in front of the Yasaka Shrine gate, where fashionable flower-viewers often took refreshment to prolong the pleasure of seeing and being seen.
The artist has delighted in a world peopled entirely by women (more than fifty of them). These include resplendently-attired prostitutes with their young protges, wives and children of townspeople, elderly nuns, teahouse waitresses, and ladies of noble birth. Most are elegantly costumed. Kimono designs include butterflies, water wheels, autumn flowers, calligraphy, cherry blossoms, as well as geometric patterns like stripes, circles, or stylized tortoise shells. Equally varied are the head-shades, which include gorgeous umbrellas, scarves, stray hats, and kazuki (kimono pulled up over the hair) sported by aristocrats. The delineation of the figures, the arrangement of their clothing, and their hairstyles point to the period just after Hishikawa Moronobu (d. 1694); more specifically the sweet delicacy of their faces suggests an artist connected to the circle of the renowned Kyoto artist Nishikawa Sukenobu (1671-1751) (lots 36-39). The screen has been dated on the basis of its style to the early 18th century.
The roots of this secular composition lie in ancient religious belief. Following the Chinese yin-yang conception of the cosmos, medieval Japanese believed in the correlation between season and direction: the north was equated with winter, east with spring, south with summer, and west with autumn. The earliest screens depicting Kyoto showed each quarter of the city in its proper seasonal aspect, with all four seasons portrayed in the same image. Although the religious nuances dropped away, the convention of showing spring cherries blooming in the famous places in the east of the city lingered in the Edo period.
When the screen was remounted, a small portion of the third panel from the left was trimmed, resulting in a somewhat unnatural crowding of the figures.
Azabu Museum of Art, and Osaka Municipal Museum of Art, eds., Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e meihin ten: Azabu bijutsukan shozo/Ukiyo-e Painting Masterpieces in the Collection of the Azabu Museum of Art, introduction by Kobayashi Tadashi, exh. cat. (Tokyo: Azabu Museum of Art; Osaka: Osaka Municipal Museum of Art, 1988), pl. 59.
Azabu Museum of Arts and Crafts, and Japan Institute of Arts and Crafts, eds., Edo no fashon, kaikan kinen ten, Part 1: Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e ni miru onnatachi no yosooi/"Fashion of Edo": Women's dress in Ukiyo-e Paintings, exh. cat. (Tokyo: Azabu Museum of Arts and Crafts, 1989), pl. 53.
Kobayashi Tadashi, ed., Azabu bijutsu kogeikan (Azabu Museum of Arts and Crafts), vol. 6 of Nikuhitsu ukiyo-e taikan (Tokyo: Kodansha, 1995), pl. 87.
This polychromed screen sprinkled with specks of lavish gold leaf combines three favorite Japanese themes: women, cherry blossoms, and beloved scenic sites. These are brought together under the traditional rubric of a blossom-viewing excursion to Kyoto's Higashiyama (Eastern Hills) district. Famous sights include Kiyomizu Temple, a gantried tour-de-force built in the ninth century, and the nearby Otowa falls, where the faithful did penance under its chilly cascade. Included also are the celebrated teahouses in front of the Yasaka Shrine gate, where fashionable flower-viewers often took refreshment to prolong the pleasure of seeing and being seen.
The artist has delighted in a world peopled entirely by women (more than fifty of them). These include resplendently-attired prostitutes with their young protges, wives and children of townspeople, elderly nuns, teahouse waitresses, and ladies of noble birth. Most are elegantly costumed. Kimono designs include butterflies, water wheels, autumn flowers, calligraphy, cherry blossoms, as well as geometric patterns like stripes, circles, or stylized tortoise shells. Equally varied are the head-shades, which include gorgeous umbrellas, scarves, stray hats, and kazuki (kimono pulled up over the hair) sported by aristocrats. The delineation of the figures, the arrangement of their clothing, and their hairstyles point to the period just after Hishikawa Moronobu (d. 1694); more specifically the sweet delicacy of their faces suggests an artist connected to the circle of the renowned Kyoto artist Nishikawa Sukenobu (1671-1751) (lots 36-39). The screen has been dated on the basis of its style to the early 18th century.
The roots of this secular composition lie in ancient religious belief. Following the Chinese yin-yang conception of the cosmos, medieval Japanese believed in the correlation between season and direction: the north was equated with winter, east with spring, south with summer, and west with autumn. The earliest screens depicting Kyoto showed each quarter of the city in its proper seasonal aspect, with all four seasons portrayed in the same image. Although the religious nuances dropped away, the convention of showing spring cherries blooming in the famous places in the east of the city lingered in the Edo period.
When the screen was remounted, a small portion of the third panel from the left was trimmed, resulting in a somewhat unnatural crowding of the figures.