The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 24, 2024

Flowers and Trees of the Four Seasons

Flowers and Trees of the Four Seasons

early to mid-1700s
(Japanese, 1683–1755)
Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink, color, gold, silver, and gilding on paper
Each screen: 155 x 368.5 cm (61 x 145 1/16 in.)
Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2021.132
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

One plant in these screens, tumeric, or ukon in Japanese, is found in Okinawa.

Description

The painter Watanabe Shikō had a special interest in scientific realism, based on interactions with his patron Konoe Iehiro. Shikō combined his attention to accurate depiction of plants with strong ink outlines and decorative elements like gold and silver, arriving at an innovative style that influenced many of his peers in the city of Kyoto.
  • London Gallery, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan
    2021-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
  • Kyoto City Art Museum, ed. Rinpa no issai: Watanabe Shikō-ten: Daikakuji shōheiga o chūshin ni [= 渡邊始興: 琳派の異才: 大覚寺 障壁画 を 中心に]. Kyoto: Kyoto City Museum, 1973.
    Takeuchi Misako, “Flowers and Trees of the Four Seasons,” in Takeuchi Misako, et al., 琳派 : 特别展 : 美の継承 - 宗達, 光琳, 抱一, 其一 [= Rimpa: Succession of Beauty—Sotatsu, Korin, Hoitsu, Kiitsu]. Nagoya: Nagoya City Museum, 1994. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 39, pp. 201–202
    Takeuchi, Melinda. “Watanabe Shikō (1683–1755): Flowers and Trees of the Four Seasons,” in Singer, Robert T, John T Carpenter, et al., Japan Foundation, Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japan., National Gallery of Art (U.S.). Edo, Art in Japan 1615-1868. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1998. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 162, p. 306–307
    Fukushi Yuya, “Watanabe Shikō hitsu: shiki sōka zu byōbu [Screens of Grasses and Flowers of the Four Seasons Painted by Watanabe Shikō],” in Kadō: Ikenobo [Way of Flowers: Journal of the Ikenobo School of Ikebana], January 2019, pp. 56–57.
  • 渡辺始興の絵画 [Paintings of Watanabe Shikō]. Kyoto National Museum, Kyoto, Japan (December 18, 2018–January 27, 2019).
    Edo, Art in Japan 1615-1868. National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC (November 15, 1998–February 15, 1999).
    渡邊始興 : 琳派の異才 : 大覚寺 障壁画 を 中心に [Watanabe Shikouten : Rin pa no isai : Dai kakuji shōhekiga wo chū shin ni]. Kyōto City Art Museum, Kyōto, Japan (March 18–April 11, 1973).
  • {{cite web|title=Flowers and Trees of the Four Seasons|url=false|author=Watanabe Shikō|year=early to mid-1700s|access-date=24 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2021.132