Birds and Flowers of the Four Seasons

The right screen features spring and summer flowers, such as rape blossoms, violets, dandelions, sunflowers and morning glories, along with pairs of chickens, while the left screen focuses on autumn and winter plants, such as chrysanthemums, great burnet, Japanese pampas grass, patrinia and narcissus, along with mandarin ducks. While essentially depictions of all four seasons, the compositions of these screens focus on the summer and autumn grasses favored by the Rimpa School. The gently expressed flowers, rendered in richly modulated pale ink lines and tarashikomi ink puddling, copies the Rimpa style handed down from Kôrin to Hôitsu. On the other hand, the strikingly vivid color handling, the depiction of the birds and other aspects of the adroitly colored and intricately worked details reflect Kiitsu's modern sensibilities which turn more toward clear expression than toward lyricism.