Decorative Folding Screen LANDSCAPE WITH THE SUN AND MOON by Sansuizu

Itsugetsu sansui-zu(Landscape with the Sun and Moon )◆

Muromachi period/16th century Tokyo National Museum

Behind Hamamatsu, the mountains of the four seasons float the sun and moon in the sky. Pine trees and wave crests intertwine with the large swell of mountains and waves, which resonate with the bold gold and silver decorations, and still appeal strongly to the viewer today. It is a gem that fuses pictoriality and decorativeness Japan which well shows the characteristics of painting.

Judging from the discontinuity of the composition and the difference in techniques used, it is considered that the right and left parts of this screen were originally parts of two different screens and they were combined after each one had lost its own counterpart. The sophisticated composition and elaborate depiction method found in the left part seems to suggest that this screen was created by a painter of the Tosa school after the mid-16th century. It can be estimated that the right part, which has a style clearly different from that of the left, was created in the early 16th century.