Birds, Flowers, and Insects (Primary Title)
花鳥草虫図小屏風 土佐光信筆 室町時代 六曲一雙 紙本着色 (Translation)

Attributed to, Tosa Mitsunobu, Japanese, 1434 - 1525 (Artist)

before 1523
Japanese
Paintings
Screens
Works On Paper
One of a pair of six-panel folding screens; ink and color on paper
Japan
Overall (screen): 39 × 111 in. (99.06 × 281.94 cm)
Other (painted area): 26 × 14 1/8 in. (66.04 × 35.88 cm)
66.72.1
Not on view
Pair with "Birds, Flowers, and Insects" (66.72.2)
This pair of screens, illustrating seasonal flowers, plants, birds, and other animals, is among the few surviving works attributed to Mitsunobu, the founder of the Tosa school and chief of the imperial painting academy. His use of Chinese themes and styles of the Song and Yuan dynasty, unique compositions, delicate brushwork, and vivid color make these screens among the most important works to integrate both Chinese and Japanese elements in the history of Japanese painting.
Tosa school
Muromachi period (1392-1573)
Unsigned
None
Arthur and Margaret Glasgow Fund
"Japanese Art from the Virginia Museum," Delaware Art Museum, September 23, 1982 - October 31, 1982
Barriault, Anne B., and Kay M. Davidson. Selections from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Richmond, VA: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 2007. (pp 148-149)
"Painting and Poetry," Arts in Virginia, Vol. 10, No. 2, Winter 1970, pp. 23 - 31 (ill.)
Japanese Design in Art, Kyoto Shoin Co., Kyoto, Japan, 1984, p. 188, color illus. Pl. 123, p. 105
Klein and Wheelwright, "Japanese Kinbyobu: The Gold-leafted Folding Screens of the Muromachi Period (1333 - 1573)," Pts. II-IV, Artibus Asiae, Vol. XLV, Nos. 2/3, 1984, p. 160, illus. detail Pl. 16
Image released via Creative Commons CC-BY-NC

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