Late 20th Century Japanese Iris Bridge Violet Blue Flower Ikebana Byobu Screen

Details

Description

From the estate of a Hollywood singer
Excell3nt provenance

Two-panel byobu screen with hand-painted Irises and bridge inspired by the … Read more From the estate of a Hollywood singer
Excell3nt provenance

Two-panel byobu screen with hand-painted Irises and bridge inspired by the Rinpa school in the style of Ogata Korin
Artist's chop mark bottom right (Signature)
Encompassed in a black wood frame with metal tips and accents down the outside border.
35.5 x 48 inches
Clusters of purple blooms float gently across the panels on either side of a wood bridge.
Painted in mineral colors over paper and gold leaf.

Irises at Yatsuhashi (Eight Bridges)
The stately, vertical forms of irises set against an angular bridge that sweeps diagonally across the two panel screen refers to an episode in The Ise Stories (Ise monogatari). Exiled from Kyoto after an affair with a high-ranking court lady, the story’s protagonist stops at Yatsuhashi, a place where a stream branches into eight channels, each with its own bridge. The sight of irises prompts him to compose a nostalgic love poem. The first syllable of each line forms the Japanese word for irises (kakitsubata). The English translation, though unable to convey the complex wordplay of the original, is also an acrostic:
Karagoromo
kitsutsu narenishi
tsuma shi areba
harubaru kinuru
tabi o shi zo omou
I wear robes with well-worn hems,
Reminding me of my dear wife
I fondly think of always,
So as my sojourn stretches on
Ever farther from home,
Sadness fills my thoughts.
The background of this screen is paper sprinkled with gold applied in small squares catching the light in broken pattern when it was first applied and increasing in variety with the years as the gold softened.
The subject is clumps of iris pleasantly dispersed. The irises are of a deep and beautiful blue, the under petals gray blue, the stalks and leaves of clear green.
The gold has softened and the green, thickly laid on, has chipped off here and there, showing a tender under green perhaps more beautiful with the years than at the beginning.
The artist uses decisive calligraphy strokes and only 3 colors - gold, blue and green.
Provenance info will be shared with winning bidder

Nothing but a streak of purple flowers and green pointed leaves against the small shimmering squares of gold foil that represent river and air and sky.
The painting is nothing like the busy, intricate floral motifs of typical screens of the Rimpa style of the earlier period. Th The simple, repeating pattern of the irises, painted with bold, calligraphic brushstrokes and no outlines, appears almost abstract.
Korin uses only three colors: the blue of the petals, the green of the stalks, and the gold background. Nothing but irises and a bridge See less