Artwork Page for Irises

Details / Information for Irises

Irises

燕子花図

1700s

Watanabe Shikō 渡辺 始興

(Japanese, 1683–1755)
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Culture
Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
Medium
pair of six-panel folding screens, ink and color on gilded paper
Measurements
Painting (each): 154.4 x 360.4 cm (60 13/16 x 141 7/8 in.); Mounted (each): 170.7 x 376.7 cm (67 3/16 x 148 5/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of The Norweb Foundation 1954.603
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print

Description

The subject of this painting comes from a 10th-century text. It tells of a young nobleman’s journey into the lonely countryside, far from the capital city of Heian-kyō (Kyoto). There he came upon a small stream, the banks of which were covered with blooming irises, on which the artist has chosen to focus our attention. While viewing the beautiful flowers the nobleman composed a poem:

I have a beloved wife,
Familiar as the skirt of a well-worn robe,
And so this distant journeying
Fills my heart with grief.
A pair of six-panel folding screens depicts clusters of blue and purple irises with blade-like green leaves against a solid gold background. On the top screen, flowers rise diagonally from left to upper right. On the bottom, irises stay low in the foreground, leaving the upper gold empty. A patterned dark blue border with a thin red edge frames the screens, featuring petals in varied shades suggesting depth.

Irises

1700s

Watanabe Shikō

(Japanese, 1683–1755)
Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)

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