Circle of Ogata Kōrin (1658–1716)
Birds and Flowers of the Seasons
Item number: T-1009RSize: H 65" x W 142.5" (165,5 x 362 cm)
Age: early 18th C
Pair of six-fold screens
Ink, colors, and gofun on paper
An anonymous Rimpa School artist has created a luxurious and dense undergrowth of flowering plants and trees, which conceals not only additional flora, but also a pair of quail and pheasants among its vegetation. This pair of folding screens with painting in ink, colors, and gofun represents a collection of the flowering plants of the four seasons.
There are the spring flowers, wisteria, willow, thistle, kodamari, suzushiro, shakuyaku, and kobushi. The summer plants are represented by mizuaoi, uri, tsuyukusa, iris, lily, peony, and an eggplant. The autumn plants include susuki, kikyō, keitō, nadeshiko, ominaeshi, kuzu, bush clover, morning glory, and gourds. The sole winter plant is the pine. Here, as in other works, the flowers of the autumn are clearly favored: the autumn flowers are centered on an entire six-fold screen, while the other six-fold screen is divided among the flowers of the three other seasons.
A favorite technique of Rimpa artists can be seen here, namely the tarashikomi, a process that involves dripping ink of differing modality into ink that has not yet dried, thus producing a mottled effect. In addition, the ink modalities are carefully varied, in order to create a convincing sense of depth to the leafy undergrowth: there is a clearly articulated layering of leaves, important in a work with this many leaves and flowers arranged on top of each other in a small space.
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