Minneapolis Institute of Art

Birds in Landscape [left of a pair]

Shūgetsu Tōkan

Date

early 16th century

Medium

Six-panel folding screen, one of a pair, ink and color on paper

Department

Asian Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

This pair of screens show a variety of birds among trees and flowers, a popular painting subject in the 1500s. At right, a horned owl in the far upper corner watches a boisterous scene below from his perch in the branches of a pine tree: a pair of hawks have zeroed in on a pair of white herons who run for cover toward lotuses and reeds. The left screen also features pairs of birds, including geese, cranes, and crested mynas among bamboo and a plum tree. Although the screens are not signed by the artist, the later painter Kano Yasunobu (1614–1685) wrote inscriptions on the outside edge of each screen assigning them to Shūgetsu Tōkan, a Zen priest and painter active 100 years earlier. Japan, Asia

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