Woman painter of the Kiitsu School
Chrysanthemum Blossoms, 19th century
Two-panel furosaki byōbu (folding screen for tea-room use); mineral pigments, shell power and ink on paper with gold leaf
Size 15¾ x 49¼ in. (40.3 x 125.3 cm)
T-3563-1
Further images
Signed at far right with two characters preceding the character jo or onna 女, and with two seals This is a furosaki byōbu, a small two-panel folding screen typically set...
Signed at far right with two characters preceding the character jo or onna 女, and with two seals
This is a furosaki byōbu, a small two-panel folding screen typically set behind the host’s preparation area in a Japanese tea room. As befits its function it is painted with an immediately identifiable seasonal motif of brilliantly flowering chrysanthemums, ideally suited for tea-ceremony use during the ninth lunar month when most other flowers have faded. A potent symbol of longevity and vitality, chrysanthemums played a prominent role in a horticultural boom that took place in Japan’s cities during the later Edo period and were frequently depicted both by woodblock print artists such as Katsushika Hokusai and Andō Hiroshige as well as by the leading painter Suzuki Kiitsu (1796–1858), head pupil of Sakai Hōitsu (1761–1829), an artist admired for reviving the decorative style associated with Ogata Kōrin (1658–1716).
Tea screens of chrysanthemums by Kiitsu such as one in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (inv. no. 11.4581, see below), must have made an impression on Kiitsu’s many pupils. This work is likely by a woman artist of the school of painting established by Kiitsu during the early to mid-nineteenth century.
The long inscription to the left of the painting celebrates the origins of the chrysanthemum motif in East Asian culture and possibly throws light on the background to the creation of this particular screen. The first four lines are a 28-character poem by Bai Juyi (772–846), universally known in Japan as Hakurakuten and arguably the country’s favorite classical Chinese poet:
Fresh frost settles lightly on the roof tiles overnight
Banana leaves are newly broken; the withered lotus droops and falls
Alone among them, the chrysanthemums by the eastern fence withstand the cold
Their golden blooms have just opened, making the dawn air all the purer.
These four lines refer in turn to an earlier and more famous Chinese poem by Tao Yuanming (365–427) on the theme of “Chrysanthemums by the Eastern Fence” which established the flower as a favored subject for both poetry and painting.
This is a furosaki byōbu, a small two-panel folding screen typically set behind the host’s preparation area in a Japanese tea room. As befits its function it is painted with an immediately identifiable seasonal motif of brilliantly flowering chrysanthemums, ideally suited for tea-ceremony use during the ninth lunar month when most other flowers have faded. A potent symbol of longevity and vitality, chrysanthemums played a prominent role in a horticultural boom that took place in Japan’s cities during the later Edo period and were frequently depicted both by woodblock print artists such as Katsushika Hokusai and Andō Hiroshige as well as by the leading painter Suzuki Kiitsu (1796–1858), head pupil of Sakai Hōitsu (1761–1829), an artist admired for reviving the decorative style associated with Ogata Kōrin (1658–1716).
Tea screens of chrysanthemums by Kiitsu such as one in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (inv. no. 11.4581, see below), must have made an impression on Kiitsu’s many pupils. This work is likely by a woman artist of the school of painting established by Kiitsu during the early to mid-nineteenth century.
The long inscription to the left of the painting celebrates the origins of the chrysanthemum motif in East Asian culture and possibly throws light on the background to the creation of this particular screen. The first four lines are a 28-character poem by Bai Juyi (772–846), universally known in Japan as Hakurakuten and arguably the country’s favorite classical Chinese poet:
Fresh frost settles lightly on the roof tiles overnight
Banana leaves are newly broken; the withered lotus droops and falls
Alone among them, the chrysanthemums by the eastern fence withstand the cold
Their golden blooms have just opened, making the dawn air all the purer.
These four lines refer in turn to an earlier and more famous Chinese poem by Tao Yuanming (365–427) on the theme of “Chrysanthemums by the Eastern Fence” which established the flower as a favored subject for both poetry and painting.
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