Landscapes, flowers, and trees of the four seasons

Object Details

• Artist

  Kano Motonobu (1476-1559)

• Label

  When these screens were purchased by the Freer Gallery of Art in 1955, scholars were puzzled by the contrast between the styles of the twelve landscape paintings painted in ink on silk and the brilliantly colored border designs embellished by gold-leafed clouds. Some suggested that the paintings were originally mounted as hanging scrolls and only later remounted to the ornately decorated screen. Only recently, in light of research on the emergence of screen painting during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, have scholars realized that these screens preserve an unusual style combining separate ink paintings with gold and color screen painting that was fashionable in the late Muromachi period (1392-1573).

  These screens reproduce a custom of that period, when groups of hanging scroll paintings were hung temporarily against the richly decorative background of a freestanding gold and color folding screen. Both the ink paintings mounted on each panel and the surrounding design of plants of the four seasons were produced in the workshop of Kano Motonobu, the leading professional painter of the Kano school in the first half of the sixteenth century.

• Provenance

  From at least 1903-at least 1935

  Prince Motoaki Mōri (1865-1938), method of acquisition unknown [1]

  About 1935-1955

  The object’s ownership and whereabouts are unknown

  By at least 1955

  Far Eastern Art, New York, method of acquisition unknown [2]

  From 1955

  Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Far Eastern Art, New York [3]

  Notes:

  [1] See S. Tajima, ed., "Shinbi taikan” (Selected relics of Japanese art) [book] (Kyōto: Nippon Bukkyō Shinbi Kyōkai, 1903), vol. 9, pl. 22. See also Robert J. Paine, Jr., “Hsia Kuei and Motonobu,” “Revue des Arts Asiatiques” vol. 9, no. 3, (September 1935): p. 154, fig. 1-4. Motoaki Mōri was a Japanese nobleman, a Duke under the Kazoku system. He was the son of Motonori Mōri (1839-1896), who was a member of the House of Peers.

  [2] See July 11, 1955, letter from H. Elise Buckman to Roland Koscherak, “Mr. Wenley has asked me to notify you that the pair of Motonobu screens, scenes of the four seasons, arrived this afternoon in good condition,” copy in object file. See also note 3. Roland Koscherak (1899-1987), was the owner of the gallery Far Eastern Art, where he sold Japanese and Himalayan art. [3] See Roland Koscherak – Far Eastern Art invoice to Freer Gallery of Art, dated September 9, 1955, and marked approved by the Secretary on September 15, 1955, in object file.

  Research updated March 29, 2023

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Japanese Screens (March 2007 to January 3, 2016)

  Life of a Japanese Painting (December 1, 1995 to October 16, 1996)

  Japanese Art (April 11, 1978 to March 6, 1981)

  Japanese Art (July 1, 1974 to April 10, 1978)

  Japanese Art (January 1, 1963 to July 1, 1966)

  Centennial Exhibition, Galleries 1 and 2 (February 25, 1956 to January 1, 1963)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Prince Motoaki Mori (1865-1938)

  Roland Koscherak (1899-1987)

• Origin

  Japan

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1500s, 1550s

• Name

  Koscherak, Roland, Mori, Motoaki

• Place

  Japan

• Topic

  Landscapes, Art, Muromachi period (1333 - 1573), Cloud, Japanese Art, Flowers, Seasons

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Paintings