狩野周信筆　秋冬花鳥図屏風|Birds and Flowers of Autumn and Winter

Art Historical Context

This exquisite six-panel folding screen,Birds and Flowers of Autumn and Winter*, painted by Kano Chikanobu in the early 18th, exemplifies the grandeur of Edo-period Japanese art. Chikanobu, a master the Kano school—the dominant professional painting lineage in Japan for centuries—created this work during a time of relative peace and cultural flourishing under the Tokugawa shogunate. Folding screens like this *byōbu* were prized luxury items, adorning the homes of samurai, merchants, and nobility as room dividers and focal points for contemplation. Rendered in vibrant ink and color on silk, the screen captures the stark beauty of autumn and winter through delicate birds perched amid flowering branches, bare trees, and seasonal foliage. The Kano style shines here with its bold, flowing brushstrokes, asymmetrical compositions, and harmonious use of gold-flecked backgrounds (implied in traditional screens), blending Chinese Song-dynasty influences with Japanese sensitivity to nature's transience. These *kachōzu* (flower-and-bird) motifs evoke the poetic cycles of the seasons, symbolizing impermanence and resilience in Zen-inspired aesthetics. A gift to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1966, this screen invites visitors to immerse in Japan's refined decorative tradition, where art transformed everyday spaces into realms of serene elegance.

About the Artist

Kano Chikanobu (Japanese) · 1660 –1728

Japanese, 1660–1728