Birds and Flowers
Kano Mitsunobu (attributed)
The landscape depicted in this pair of screens follows a seasonal progression from right to left, starting with the blossoming plum of early spring and ending with late autumn peonies. A variety of smaller birds are positioned throughout the scene, and a trio of swimming ducks is bracketed by early summer irises and early autumn bellflowers at the center. While some raptors (birds of prey) terrorize a pheasant and an egret (a waterfowl) to the right, a peacock and peahen converse to the left. Hawks are associated with military prowess, while the peafowl suggest cultural prestige.
Colors in this work
Details
- Date
- late 1500s
- Dimensions
- image: height 1.559 m, width 3.394 m; overall: height 1.685 m, width 3.522 m; closed: height 1.725 m, width 0.61 m, depth 0.113 m; panel: height 1.685 m, width 0.587 m; with frame: height 1.717 m, width 3.554 m
- Department
- Japanese Art
- Holding institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Palette
-
Select a color to find related artworks.
- Image provider
- cleveland-museum-of-art
- License
- CC0-1.0
- Credit
- Gift of William G. Mather
Art Genome Taxonomy
11 tags
Subject Matter
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Animals Both · 99%
Birds are the principal visible subject, including peafowl, ducks, smaller birds, and other waterfowl or raptor-like birds; the museum description likewise emphasizes a variety of birds throughout the scene.
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Flora Both · 99%
Flowering plants, bamboo, reeds, and other vegetation occupy substantial areas of the composition, corresponding to the cataloged progression through plum, irises, bellflowers, and peonies.
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Landscapes Both · 98%
Rocks, trees, bamboo, open ground, and distant mountain forms create a natural landscape setting, which the museum record explicitly describes as a landscape.
Styles and Movements
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Kanō School Metadata · 89%
The attributed artist is Kano Mitsunobu, a painter of the Kano lineage, supporting the Kano School designation.
Visual Qualities
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Earth Tones Visual · 90%
The composition uses a predominantly muted palette of ochres, browns, gray-greens, subdued reds, and blue-green accents against a warm gold-toned ground.
Medium and Techniques
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Screen Format Both · 99%
The museum identifies the object as one of a pair of six-panel folding screens, and six vertical panels with folding seams are clearly visible in the image.
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Painting Both · 99%
The object is cataloged as a painting made with ink, color, and gold on paper, and the image visibly presents painted imagery across the screen surface.
Time Periods
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16th Century Art Metadata · 96%
The work is dated to the late 1500s and associated with Japan's Momoyama period, placing it within the sixteenth-century category.
Geographic Regions
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Japanese Art Metadata · 99%
The artist is identified as Japanese, the work is classified within Japanese Art, and its place of origin is listed as Japan.
Materials
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Use of Paper Metadata · 99%
Paper is explicitly identified as the support in the cataloged medium.
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Gold Both · 98%
Gold is explicitly included in the cataloged medium, while the image shows a broad warm gold-colored ground surrounding the painted forms.
Source & rights
Kano Mitsunobu (Japanese, 1565–1608). Birds and Flowers. Cleveland Museum of Art.
High-resolution sources
- Original TIFF ↗ 8,742 × 4,179 · Cleveland Museum Of Art · Available