Cypress Trees

This folding screen, known in Japanese as hinoki-zu, shows a single cypress of the species Chamaecyparis obtusa rising against a field of gold-leafed clouds, with dark blue water of a pond below. Made of paper with polychrome pigments and gold leaf, it belongs to the Kanō school, whose lavish use of gold became one of its signatures. The work is commonly attributed to Kanō Eitoku, one of the school's leading figures, though another view, based on a commission recorded in the diary of Prince Toshihito, suggests his younger brother Kanō Sōshū. The screen seems to have started as four painted sliding panels, later remounted as a screen, which accounts for some visible breaks in the composition. In Japan the cypress stood for longevity, and the piece is an example of the bold color-and-gold manner Eitoku helped develop. It is now in the Tokyo National Museum and is designated a National Treasure.

Painter

Kanō Eitoku

Date

1590

Dimensions

170 × 460 cm

Museum

Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo

Genre

byōbu-e

Depicts

Chamaecyparis obtusa

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