One of a pair of six-fold screens / Attributed Kanô Tan'yû / Manner of

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About this Item

Record Details

Accession Number
1965/1.179
Title
One of a pair of six-fold screens
Artist Nationality
Japanese
Artist Life Dates
(Kyoto, 1604 - 1674, Edo)
Object Creation Date
19th century
Object Creation Place
Asia (continent)
Japan (nation)
Creation Place 1
Asia (continent)
Creation Place 2
Japan (nation)
Style/Group/Movement
Kano School
Inscription
Signed: Tanyu Hoyu hi (on each panel); Seal: Morinobu (on each panel)
Dimensions
83.2 cm x 46 cm (32 3/4 in. x 18 1/8 in.)
Century
19th century?
Primary Object Classification
Painting
Primary Object Type
screen
Secondary Object Classification
Painting
Secondary Object Type
bird and flower
Physical Description
These panels represent six of the twelve months. The panels each have calligraphy and a red seal in one corner. In each panel there is a bird and a type of plant, which are suggestive of particular months. On the top left panel there is bamboo, the bow of the boat with a small lamp attached to it, and a type of water fowl. In the bottom middle panel is a blooming sakura tree and a pheasant. In the bottom left panel is blue and white wisteria ans small sparrows. In the bottom right panel there is a willow slowly coming back to life after winter over a thatched building.
Subject Matter
Depictions of the seasons have a prominent place in the tradition of the Kano School (the official school of painting of the Tokugawa shogunate) and Japanese art. Six-fold screens such as this, probably one of a pair, are meant to represent six of the twelve months of the year, with keen attention paid to the birds and flowers associated with each month. Although this screen bears Kano Tan'yu's signature, it was probably created by his studio or by followers working in this famous artist's style.
Painters were not alone in their masterful use of seasonal references—poetry also drew heavily on such motifs and exchange often took place between these genres, with poems inspiring painted scenes and paintings finding representation in poetic verse. The following late Heian (794—1185) and early Kamakura (1185—1333) period poems would have been part of the artistic dialogue that informs the motifs on these screens:
Spring is the cherry blossom
Summer is the cuckoo
Autumn is the moon
And in winter,
the shimmering snow is fresh to the eye.
Eihei Do-gen (1200—1253)
In the evening, the biting autumn wind blows through the field
and quails cry in the Village of Deep Grasses
Fujiwara Toshihari (1114–1204)
Secondary Keywords
upward
animals and creatures
asian
associated concepts
birds
bodies of water
bodies of water and components of bodies of water
bodies of water by size
buildings and the land
deciduous trees
descriptors
dwellings
earth sciences concepts
east asian
furnishings
furnishings by form or function
furniture
furniture by form or function
grass (plant material)
herbaceous plants
japanese
japanese styles
landforms
landforms and landform components
landforms by shape or position
landscapes (environments)
materials
materials by origin
natural landscapes
objects we use
people and culture
physical sciences concepts
plant material
plants
residential structures
riverine bodies
scientific concepts
seasons
settlements and landscapes
shrubs
single built works
single built works by function
single built works by specific type
styles and periods
styles and periods by region
transportation vehicles
trees by leaf life
vegetation and vegetation components
vegetation components
vehicles
watercraft
watercraft by general type
woody plants
Rights
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Technical Details

Image Size
1755 x 2055
File Size
217 KB
Record
1965/1.179
Link to this Item
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-1965-sl-1.179/1965_1.179.jpg

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https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/i/image/api/manifest/musart:1965-SL-1.179:1965_1.179.JPG

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"One of a pair of six-fold screens; Attributed Kanô Tan'yû; Manner of." In the digital collection University of Michigan Museum of Art. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-1965-sl-1.179/1965_1.179.jpg. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed March 28, 2024.
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