Summer and autumn flowers 夏秋草花図屏風
date: label: Date
content: 17th century
label: Period
content: Edo period
notes: label: Label
content: Grains and vegetables--including corn, eggplant, and taro--are unusual additions to this array of seasonal flowers depicted in an imaginary gardenlike setting. From right to left, the blooming or fruiting plants represent a seasonal progression from early spring (bog rhubarb and kerria) to late summer, when ripe wheat and millet mingle with autumn-blooming flowers such as bush clover and Chinese bellflowers. The convention of depicting seasonal plants arranged against a gold ground on folding screens and sliding paper-panelled doors (fusuma) originated in the Kyoto workshop of Tawaraya Sotatsu (active circa 1600-1640) and became a successful mainstay of that studio's repetoire. One hallmark of the Sotatsu style is the use of overlapping wet pigments that blur at the edges, a technique known as tarashikomi.
label: Provenance
content: To 1896
label: Provenance
content: Bunkio Matsuki (1867-1940), Boston, to 1896 [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1896 to 1919
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Bunkio Matsuki in 1896 [2]
label: Provenance
content: From 1920
label: Provenance
content: Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] Undated folder sheet note. See Original Screen List, S.I. 61, pg. 1, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.
label: Provenance
content: [2] See note 1.
label: Provenance
content: [3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.
label: Collection
content: Freer Gallery of Art Collection
label: Exhibition History
content: Sotatsu: Making Waves (Saturday, October 24, 2015 to Sunday, January 31, 2016)
label: Exhibition History
content: Seasons: Japanese Screens (July 9, 2011 to January 22, 2012)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Bunkio Matsuki 松木文恭 (1867-1940) (C.L. Freer source)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
place: label: Origin
content: Japan
topic: label: Topic
content: plant
label: Topic
content: flower
label: Topic
content: autumn
label: Topic
content: summer
label: Topic
content: Edo period (1615 - 1868)
label: Topic
content: Japan
label: Topic
content: Japanese Art
label: Topic
content: Charles Lang Freer collection
setName: label: Related Online Resources
content: Google Arts & Culture
label: See more items in
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Charles Lang Freer
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: F1896.82
objectType: label: Type
content: Painting
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Color over gold on paper
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (overall): 181 x 377.9 cm (71 1/4 x 148 3/4 in)