Flowers and Trees of the Four Seasons (right screen)
1704
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
1704
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
You see a tall folding screen covered in gold leaf, with bright flowers and trees from every season—cherries, pines, maples, and plums—all outlined in black ink. Watanabe Shikō painted these plants so carefully that scholars once used his screens to identify real species. Yet he also added silver and gold to make the scene feel like a dream. His patron, a nobleman, wanted both science and beauty in the same picture. To see how other Kyoto artists mixed nature and decoration, look up *japan, edo period (1615–1868)*.
