Enso Zen Circle ('Inexhaustible Treasure') by Master Kobayashi Taigen (*1938)

A scroll and a small lantern depicted in this 19th century painting suggest the romantic notion of a Chinese scholar painting in the evening hours. Re...

With careful brushwork, this 19th century painting honors the four treasures of the scholar's studio - paper, calligraphy brush, ink, and inkstone. Essenti...

A Japanese Sumi ink painting with light color wash mounted with brocade borders as a hanging scroll (Kakejiku). The painting depicts the famously eccentric Buddhist monks Hanshan and Shide (known in Japan as Kanzan and Jittoku). Often as a pair, they have been a popular motif in Japanese Zen painting...

Japanese Two Panel Screen: Water Fowl by River's Edge, Showa period (1926 - 1989) painting of fowl on a river bank. Very art deco in style. Painted in mineral pigments on gold pape...

Japanese Two Panel Screen: Aviary Shaded By A Maple Tree, Showa period (1926 - 1989) painting of an outdoor bird enclosure under a maple tree. Painted in ...

Cherry Blossoms Kano Sanrakuki (1898-1981) Showa period, circa 1930 2-panel Japanese Screen Color, gofun and gold leaf on paper Against a backdrop of gold-leafed ground, the lichen covered trunk and branches of the life-sized cherry blossom tree reach out and beyond the confines of the pictorial surface. The overall composition has a feeling of flatness which draws emphasis to the surface and the three-dimensionality of the cherry blossoms. Painstakingly built-up layers of thickly applied shell-white gofun detail the voluminous blossoms and cover large areas of this tour-de-force of Japanese Nihonga painting. By simplifying the background, minimizing the number of colors and depicting the blossoms with such heavy relief, the artist has emphasized the stunning presence of the cherry tree. The type of tree depicted is the Yae-Zakura; a double-layered type of cherry blossom famed for its beauty and strength. When we think of Japanese cherry blossoms, the first thing that comes to mind is Somei Yoshino variety, which has a single flower with five almost white petals. This type is fragile and easily blown away by strong wind or rain. Most of the double-flowered cherry blossoms begin to bloom when the Somei-Yoshino falls, and the flowering period lasts longer than that of the Somei-Yoshino. Kano Sanrakuki originally studied painting at the Kyoto City Arts and Crafts School under the tutelage of Yamamoto Shunkyo...