- Museum number
- 1982,0701,0.28.1-2
- Description
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Painting, pair of hanging scrolls. Flowers and grasses of four seasons. Flowers of spring and summer in right scroll: aster; orchid, violet, thistle and lily. Flowers of autumn and winter in left scroll: bush-clover, narcissus, hibiscus, miniature chrysanthemum and bell-flower. Ink, colours and gold on silk. Signed and sealed.
- Production date
- 1825-1858
- Dimensions
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Height: 103.20 centimetres (c. each)
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Height: 189 centimetres (mount)
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Width: 34.30 centimetres (c. each)
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Width: 52 centimetres (mount)
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
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See Jack Hillier, 'The Harari Collection of Japanese Paintings and Drawings', vol. 3 (Lund Humphries, 1973), no. 226.
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Smith et al 1990
It was particularly in flower paintings that artists of the Rinpa school expressed their skill for brilliant decoration. Kiitsu was the principal pupil of the Rinpa revivalist Sakai Hoitsu (1761-1828) and worked in the city of Edo. The seasonal flowers which cascade down the hanging scrolls take on an almost enamelled polish, a combination of the use of rich pigments such as azurite blue and Kiitsu's hard-edged, accurate brushwork. But the brittle quality of the painting of the flowers is softened by the hazy puddling and mixing of the water-logged green pigment applied to the leaves and stems, and by the gently curving shapes of the bushclover and orchid leaves. Earlier Rinpa artists such as Korin had used a bold pattern of stylised flower forms, but by Kiitsu's time much more naturalism had crept into the spatial relationships in paintings of all schools, and he attempts here a much more complex tangle of intertwining plants. The right scroll brings together flowers of spring and summer: aster, orchid, violet, thistle and lily; and the left scroll, those of autumn and winter: bushclover, narcissus, hibiscus, miniature chrysanthemum and bellflower.
FURTHER READING
Nakamura, Tanio (ed.), 'Hoitsu-ha kachogafu', 6 vols, Kyoto, 1978-80.
See also:
Hillier, Jack, 'The Harari Collection of Japanese Paintings and Drawings', 3 vols, London, 1973, nos 226 a, b.
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Farrer 2001
The flower paintings of Rinpa school artists showed their skill in brilliant decoration. Kiitsu was the principal pupil of the Rinpa revivalist Sakai Hoitsu (1761-1828). Earlier Rinpa artists had used bold patterns of stylised flower forms, but by Kiitsu's time more naturalism was evident in painting compositions. The right scroll shows flowers of the spring and summer: aster; orchid, violet, thistle and lily, and the left scroll, those of autumn and winter: bush-clover, narcissus, hibiscus, miniature chrysanthemum and bell-flower.
See also:
Hillier, Jack, "Kano / Decorative / Nanga / Maruyama / Shijo / Independents / Fans", 'The Harari Collection of Japanese Paintings and Drawings', vol. 3, London, 1973, no. 226.
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Hizo Nihon bijutsu taikan Vol 3
This pair of scrolls by Kiitsu, depicting a dozen or more different flowering plants of the four seasons, devotes the right-hand scroll to flowers of spring and summer and the left-hand scroll to those of autumn and winter. Both scrolls leave the upper section of the tall, narrow space blank, crowding the various flowers together into the lower section, where the complex arrangement of motifs overflowing with intense primary colors creates a most striking effect. The right-hand scroll creates a suggestion of depth by extending the upward position of the plants' roots, while the left-hand scroll varies the angle by bringing them together at the bottom. The plants are all given clear-cut treatment, with well-defined outlines, and the forms of some, such as the tiger lily, are exaggerated. The colouring as a whole is clear and two-dimensional, each flower being given its own bright color with which to vie with the rest. In particular, the rich 'gunjo' (deep blue) used on the flowering irises and bellflowers provides the work with strong points of focus. The total effect is characteristic of Kiitsu in its unique preoccupation with the formal interpretation of motifs rather than the atmospheric depiction of flowers as such.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
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2022 October - April 2023, BM Mitsubishi Corporation Japanese Galleries
- Acquisition date
- 1982
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- 1982,0701,0.28.1-2
- Additional IDs
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Asia painting number: Jap.Ptg.Add.715 (Japanese Painting Additional Number)
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Asia painting number: Jap.Ptg.Add.716 (Japanese Painting Additional Number)
