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Lot 3022

Anonymous (early 17th century)
Wisteria Blossoms

18 March 2015, 13:00 EDT
New York

US$20,000 - US$30,000

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Anonymous (early 17th century)

Wisteria Blossoms
A six-panel folding screen, ink, color and gold on paper; of a rustic fence entwined by white flowering wisteria vines
59 3/4 x 146in (151.8 x 370.8cm)

Footnotes

Provenance:
Purchased Marshall Fields, Chicago, 1976.

For Momoyama/early Edo period screens of wisteria supported on a fence or trellis, please see Nihon byōbue shūsei: dai 7-kan, kachōga: shiki sōka (Compendium of Japanese Screen Painting: vol. 7, Bird-and Flower Painting: Seasonal Flowers and Grasses), Tokyo, 1980, pp. 26-29, 111 and pls. 9 and 10.

This bold depiction of blossoming wisteria on a trellis is evocative of late spring and early summer when this hardy plant is most vibrant. As early as the Heian period (794-1185) aristocrats enjoyed wisteria viewing parties, popularized in part by the empress Fujiwara no Shoshi (988-1074), daughter of Fujiwara no Michinaga (966-1028) who earned the nickname Fujitsubo because of the wisteria (fuji) she cultivated in the inner gardens of her mansion.

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