17th Century Japanese Screen Pair. Flock of Cranes. Ink and color on gold leaf.

Anonymous (17th century)

Flock of Cranes

A pair of six-panel Japanese screens. Ink, color, gofun and gold leaf on paper

Dimensions: Each Screen: H. 169 cm x W. 380 cm

Price: USD 72,000

A pair of six-fold Japanese screens from the 17th century depicting a flock of cranes arriving at their wintering grounds. The expansive scene is heavily atmospheric. The cranes are flying into the wind, beaks open in high pitched calls, wings beating heavily. Painted in dark and largely uniform tones the cranes present almost as silhouettes, conveying the lateness of the day and heightening the tension of the scene. The faintly ink brushed rice fields and stubs of harvested rice denote season and surroundings, but are subtle indicators rather than firmly delineated elements. The rocky precipice is similarly faintly brushed in light ink, effectively conveying the sense without intruding on the wide open expanse of gold. The scene is anchored at its left and right extremes by subtle clusters of foliage; dwarf bamboo and reeds.

The scene is unique. The artist has presented the work like a hand-scroll, emphasizing the wide expanse and telling a story as we read it from right to left. This is grounded in the Yamato-e tradition as revived by earlier Tosa school artists. The work speaks to an age before the crane took on a more decorative and patternated form such as we see with the Unkoku school by the mid 17th century. The telltale brushwork and landscapes of the all powerful Kano school are not evident. Perhaps the influence of the Hasegawa school is to be found in the resting cranes and the singular precipice, along with the artist’s pursuit of atmosphere. The almost all-gold background is more representative of the Rinpa style. The silhouettes of the cranes in flight bring to mind the stenciled works of Sotatsu in his hand-scroll held in the Freer Gallery of Art. Similar cranes in flight can also be found in a Momoyama period ink screen held in the Hikone Castle Museum. This unique scene points to the artists propensity for experimentation with composition and sensitivity to the tastes of the time.