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Kano Koi
Japanese, c. 1569-1636
Pheasant and Pine, c.1626
Six-panel screen; ink, color, gold and silver on paper
170.2 x 380 cm
Saint Louis Art Museum,Funds given by Mary and Oliver Langenberg, Mr. and Mrs. Richard A. Liddy, and Susan and David Mesker (105.2002), Obj: 191659
ねじれた枝の松に雪が積もり、そこに紅梅が寄り添うように生えている。まさに晩冬から春の訪れに差しかかる頃の景色である。山鳥の雄が、幹におとなしくとまっており、その尾は、金色の盛上げによる柴垣の斜めさを同調している。
この屏風に印章や落款はないが、現存品との比較分析により、狩野興以の作品と想定されている。興以は、狩野家の生まれでないため、狩野派内では、序列が高くなかったが、次代の御用絵師たちに師として多大な影響を与えた。
この作品は、現存しないもう一隻が、このように春景であったのか不明だが、興以が後水尾天皇の行幸を迎えるために増改築された二条城二の丸御殿の障壁画制作にかかわった、寛永3(1626)年頃の作とみなされている。
The gnarled pine tree carpeted with snow, juxtaposed with tiny pink plum blossoms, points toward the very late winter season and the imminent arrival of spring. A male copper pheasant sits quietly on the tree trunk, its tail repeating the diagonal of the fence rendered in low-relief gold (moriage).
Although unsigned, this screen has been attributed to Kano Koi based on close comparison with his signed works. Koi was not a blood relation of the Kano family and therefore did not rise high in the ranks of the school. But he profoundly influenced the next generation of artists as the teacher of future official painters-in-residence (goyo eshi) to the shogun.
Likely the left screen of a pair—the unknown half of which would have depicted the spring season—this work was most likely done around 1626 when Koi was involved in painting the decorative program for the shogun’s Ninomaru Palace at Nijo Castle in preparation for the visit of the emperor Gomizunoo.
Rotation 2: August 15-September 27, 2009
