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Flowers and Grasses of the Four Seasons

Circle of Kano Mitsunobu 狩野光信 Japanese
late 16th century
Not on view
In this lyrical variation of the common theme of Flowers and Birds of the Four Seasons, delicately rendered insects such as dragonflies, butterflies, and praying mantises hover among kerria roses, peonies, chrysanthemums, bush clover, and snow-dusted lantern flowers. Scallop-edged golden clouds and the graceful arcs of eulalia grasses form repeating, rhythmic patterns.
The treatment of pictorial elements is consistent with the gentle, elegant painting style of Kano Mitsunobu, whose works graced a number of Kyoto palaces and temples. Parallels can also be drawn to lacquer decoration at the mausoleum of warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi in Kyoto’s Kōdaiji Temple. The lacquered and maki-e–decorated panels, associated with the Kōami school of Kyoto lacquer artisans, display repeating autumn grasses resembling motifs in Mitsunobu’s paintings and this pair of screens.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • 四季花草図屏風
  • Title: Flowers and Grasses of the Four Seasons
  • Artist: Circle of Kano Mitsunobu 狩野光信 (Japanese, 1565–1608)
  • Period: Momoyama period (1573–1615)
  • Date: late 16th century
  • Culture: Japan
  • Medium: Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink, color, gold paint, and gold leaf on paper
  • Dimensions: Image (each): 59 15/16 in. × 11 ft. 7 7/16 in. (152.2 × 354.2 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015
  • Object Number: 2015.300.70.1, .2
  • Curatorial Department: Asian Art

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The Return to Court of the Four Graybeards of Mount Shang (left); Su Shi’s Visit to the Wind and Water Cave (right, Kano Mitsunobu 狩野光信 Japanese, Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink, color, gold, and gold leaf on paper, Japan
The Return to Court of the Four Graybeards of Mount Shang (left); Su Shi’s Visit to the Wind and Water Cave (right
In the Style of Kano Mitsunobu 狩野光信
late 16th century
Helmet (<i>Zukinnari Kabuto</i>), Iron, lacquer, Japanese
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Irises at Yatsuhashi (Eight Bridges), Ogata Kōrin Japanese, Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink and color on gold leaf on paper, Japan
Irises at Yatsuhashi (Eight Bridges)
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after 1709
Armor (<i>Gusoku</i>), Saotome Ietada Japanese, Iron, lacquer, silk, gilt copper, Japanese
Armor (Gusoku)
Armorer Helmet bowl signed Saotome Ietada
Armorer Breastplate inscribed inside, Myōchin Munesuke
16th and 18th centuries
Rough Waves, Ogata Kōrin Japanese, Two-panel folding screen; ink, color, and gold leaf on paper, Japan
Rough Waves
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