Unknown

(Japan)

Title

Spring and summer activities on the seashore

Other titles:

Mount Sumiyoshi (previous title)

Place of origin

Japan

Period

Edo (Tokugawa) period 1615 - 1868 → Japan

Year

1688-1703

Media category

Painting

Materials used

single six-fold screen; ink, colour and gold on paper

Dimensions

151.0 x 348.8cm image; 166.5 x 364.6cm screen

Signature & date

Not signed. Not dated.

Credit

Purchased 1987

Accession number

584.1987

Location

Not on display

Further information

A beautiful and classic evocation of the Japanese aesthetic, this screen portrays the softly contoured hills partially shrouded in clouds. In the top left a shinto shrine floats above the clouds, and in contrast the right section of the screen illustrates lowly saltmakers on the shore, the figures rendered with an endearing detail and not without humour. The semi-abstract quality of the deliberately asymmetrical composition and the sumptuous combination of greens and gold are characteristic of the native Japanese style of 'yamato-e' painting. This style, based on outline and flat colour, had its origins in the literary interests of the Heian period, when such themes as the four seasons and famous scenic places brought a fresh and distinctively Japanese inspiration to native imagery and creativity.

Bibliography (3)

Bruce James, Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, 'Asian Collection: East Asia', pg. 246-287, Domain, 1999, 274 (colour illus.).

Jackie Menzies, The Art Gallery of New South Wales collections, 'Asian Art - India, South-East Asia, China, Tibet, Korea, Japan', pg. 173-228, Sydney, 1994, 215 (colour illus.).

Jackie Menzies and Edmund Capon, Asian Collection Handbook, Art Gallery of New South Wales 1990, 'Japanese Painting', pg. 53-69, Domain, 1990, 56-57 (colour illus.).