Pheasants among Trees: Flowers of the Four Seasons

Pheasants among Trees: Flowers of the Four Seasons

Kano Shōei

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Paired pheasants—symbols of imperial elegance—pose amid foliage representing all four seasons. Dandelions and violets in the right scroll suggest spring while a summertime azalea blooms nearby. The left scroll features an autumnal loquat and drying reeds alongside winter’s red-berried spear flowers. The pheasants’ plumage is highlighted in gold, befitting birds popularly associated with the deity Amaterasu, putative ancestress of the imperial family. Given this symbolic connection, this diptych may have been commissioned for an aristocrat’s household in the capital city. A leading Kano-school artist, Shōei received commissions from the Kyoto court as well as from important temples and shrines. While many of his works rely on models established by his father, Motonobu (ca. 1476–1559), the diptych’s close-up composition anticipates large-scale Kano screen painting of the Momoyama period (1573–1615).

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Pheasants among Trees: Flowers of the Four SeasonsPheasants among Trees: Flowers of the Four SeasonsPheasants among Trees: Flowers of the Four SeasonsPheasants among Trees: Flowers of the Four SeasonsPheasants among Trees: Flowers of the Four Seasons

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