id: 125884 accession number: 1948.128 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1948.128 updated: 2023-01-10 22:53:09.442000 Birds and Flowers, late 1500s. Kano Mitsunobu (Japanese, 1565–1608), Kano Shōei (Japanese, 1519–1592). Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink, color, and gold on paper; image: 155.5 x 340 cm (61 1/4 x 133 7/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of William G. Mather 1948.128 title: Birds and Flowers title in original language: 花鳥図屏風 series: series in original language: creation date: late 1500s creation date earliest: 1540 creation date latest: 1592 current location: creditline: Gift of William G. Mather copyright: --- culture: Japan, Momoyama period (1573-1615) technique: Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink, color, and gold on paper department: Japanese Art collection: ASIAN - Folding screen type: Painting find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Kano Mitsunobu (Japanese, 1565–1608) - artist * Kano Shōei (Japanese, 1519–1592) - artist --- measurements: Image: 155.5 x 340 cm (61 1/4 x 133 7/8 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Japanese Screens from the Museum and Cleveland Collections opening date: 1977-03-23T04:00:00 Japanese Screens from the Museum and Cleveland Collections. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (March 23-May 8, 1977). title: Byobu: The Art of the Japanese Screen opening date: 1984-08-01T04:00:00 Byobu: The Art of the Japanese Screen. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (August 1-October 14, 1984). title: Byobu: The Art of the Japanese Screen opening date: 1987-12-08T05:00:00 Byobu: The Art of the Japanese Screen. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 8, 1987-January 10, 1988). title: Autumn Grasses: Arts of the Momoyama Period (1573-1615) opening date: 1988-10-04T04:00:00 Autumn Grasses: Arts of the Momoyama Period (1573-1615). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 4-December 11, 1988). title: Asian Autumn: Masterpieces from the Collection opening date: 1991-09-17T04:00:00 Asian Autumn: Masterpieces from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 17, 1991-January 5, 1992). title: The Legacy of Japanese Art opening date: 1996-10-01T00:00:00 The Legacy of Japanese Art. Chiba City Museum of Art (organizer) (October 1-November 10, 1996). title: Highlights of Asian Paintings from The Cleveland Museum of Art opening date: 1998-02-21T00:00:00 Highlights of Asian Paintings from The Cleveland Museum of Art. Suntory Museum of Art (April 28-June 21, 1998). title: Unfolding Beauty: Japanese Screens from the Cleveland Museum of Art opening date: 2001-07-15T00:00:00 Unfolding Beauty: Japanese Screens from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (July 15-September 16, 2001). title: Admired from Afar: Masterworks of Japanese Painting from the Cleveland Museum of Art opening date: 2014-01-15T00:00:00 Admired from Afar: Masterworks of Japanese Painting from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo, Japan (January 15-February 23, 2014); Kyushu National Museum, Fukuoka, Japan (July 8-August 31, 2014). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 121). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (March 12-July 13, 2004). --- PROVENANCE William G. Mather [1857-1951], Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art date: ?-1948 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1948- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: The inscriptions on these screens are not signatures of the artist, but instead an attribution to the painter Kano Eitoku (1543-1590) by his youngest brother, Kano Naganobu (1577–1654). digital description: wall description: Unhurried contemplation of these screens reveals that their appearance differs slightly. Notice the shapes of the rocks and pine trunks. The actual ink lines defining their contours and the many brushstrokes providing textual definition to forms and surfaces show two distinct hands at work in the late 16th-century Kyoto.

Both Kano Shōei and Kano Mitsunobu were well known throughout the country for their skills. As masters of the Kano academic painting style, they naturally favored Chinese-inspired subject matter, such as birds and flowers, rendered in emphatic ink tonalities and placed within mountainous landscape settings. As can be seen in the screen on the right, military class patrons frequently requested scenes depicting predation, such as hunting scenes that were inserted as additional subject matter in otherwise tranquil vistas celebrating flora and fauna. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Chiba-shi Bijutsukan. Shugyoku no Nihon bijutsu: Hosomi korekushon no zenbō to Bosuton, Kurīburando, Sakkurā no wadaisaku : kaikan isshūnen kinen. Chiba-shi: Chiba-shi Bijutsukan, 1996. page number: Reproduced: cat. no. 81, p. 98 url: Cleveland Museum of Art. Tōyō kaiga no seika: Kurīvurando Bijutsukan no korekushon kara : tokubetsuten. 1998. page number: Reproduced: pp. 120-122, cat. no. 80 url: Cleveland Museum of Art, and Michael R. Cunningham. Unfolding Beauty: Japanese Screens from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001. page number: Reproduced: pp.18-19 url: Admired from afar: masterworks of Japanese painting from the Cleveland Museum of Art [クリーブランド美術館展 : 名画でたどる日本の美 Kurīburando Bijutsukan ten: meiga de tadoru Nihon no bi ]. Tokyo: Tōkyō Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan, 2014. page number: Reproduced: cat. no. 29, pp. 90-91 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1948.128/1948.128_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1948.128/1948.128_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1948.128/1948.128_full.tif