Birds and Flowers

These three hanging scrolls, likely part of a set that originally included a fourth, depict flowers, birds, and insects associated with the different seasons. The compositions exemplify the early Kano school’s interpretation of the flower-and-bird genre, shaped in part by Chinese painting traditions. Landscape elements are kept to a minimum, allowing the seasonal motifs to take center stage. The first painting represents spring with plum blossoms, bamboo, and a pair of robins. The second suggests summer with hollyhock and blackberry lily plants. The third evokes autumn with a plumed cockscomb, accompanied by a grasshopper, a cricket, and a dragonfly. The summer and autumn scrolls bear the red, cauldron-shaped “Motonobu” seal—one of several versions associated with Kano Motonobu, official painter to the Ashikaga shoguns. Although sealed with Motonobu’s mark, the paintings may have been executed by his son, Shōei (1519–1592).