Not currently on view
In the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland · as of August 2026
FROM THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART’S CATALOG
The immense heraldic birds on display in these byøbu reflect the Momoyama era's spirit of newly gained self-confidence and an affinity for grand expressive statements in painting, architecture, the textile and ceramic arts, as well as garden design. While that period preceded the arrival of prosperity, it clearly marked an extra---ordinary moment in Japanese cultural history, one frequently compared with the twelfth century of the Heian period. Through the extensive use of gold-foil backgrounds rather than the somber palette of carefully orchestrated ink tones evident in Muromachi byøbu, patrons colla-borated with artists as well as craftsmen in fostering a decidedly new look in much of Japanese painting. Here for instance there is no imaginary vista suggesting China's vast waterways and mountain ranges. The setting is composed instead of highly stylized lozenges of mineral green paint, suggesting the earth from which clumps of grass, flowering plants, and towering bamboo and paulownia trees emerge. Clusters of lumpy, blue-green rocks dotted with lichen provide stabilizing three-dimensional foils for these islands of vegetation as well as the all-encompassing flat, golden surface.
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四季花鳥図屏風|Birds and Flowers of the Four Seasons
Kano Mitsunobu (Japanese, 1565–1608) — Birds and Flowers
Kano Sanraku — 伝狩野山楽筆 粟に小禽図屏風|Autumn Millet and Small Birds
Kano Sanraku (Japanese, 1559–1635) — Wild Geese
Kano Shōei (Japanese, 1519–1592) — Birds and Flowers
Sesshū Tōyō (Japanese, 1420–1506) — Birds and Flowers in a L
Kano Mitsunobu 狩野光信 — 四季花草図屏風|Flowers and Grasses of the Fou
Kano Sanraku (Japanese, 1559–1635) — Wild Geese
Watanabe Shikō (Japanese, 1683–1755) — Flowers and Trees of 
Kaihō Yūshō (Japanese, 1533–1615) — Winter and Summer Flower
Maruyama Ōkyo — Cranes
Shibata Zeshin — 柴田是真筆 烏鷺図屏風|Egrets and Crows
