Artwork
Birds and Flowers
Birds and Flowers is an unspecified painting by the Renaissance artist Sesshū Tōyō. It dates from 1473 and is held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
About this work
Overview
Birds and Flowers is a painting attributed to Sesshū Tōyō, a prominent artist. It is one of a pair of works that may have originally been part of larger compositions or served as flanking scrolls to a central landscape.
Subject & Meaning
The painting depicts a natural scene divided into two sections, one featuring autumn flowers such as sweet osmanthus and hibiscus, and the other showing summer blooms like daylilies and gardenias, representing different seasons.
History & Provenance
The painting's original context is unclear, but it may have been repurposed from a larger work or used in a luxurious room's alcove, a practice not uncommon for valued artworks like Sesshū's.
Artist & collection
Artist
Sesshū Tōyō (雪舟 等楊; c. 1420 – August 26, 1506), also known simply as Sesshū (雪舟; Japanese pronunciation: ), was a Japanese Zen monk and painter who is considered a great master of Japanese ink painting. Initially…
