Irises screen

Irises (紙本金地著色燕子花図, shihonkinji chakushoku kakitsubata-zu) is a pair of six-panel folding screens (byōbu) by the Japanese artist Ogata Kōrin of the Rinpa school. It depicts an abstracted view of water with drifts of Japanese irises (Iris laevigata). The work was probably made circa 1701–1705,[1][2] in the period of luxurious display in the Edo period known as Genroku bunka (Genroku-era culture).

The screens were housed for over 200 years by the Nishi Honganji Buddhist temple in Kyoto. They are now held by the Nezu Museum, and they are a National Treasure of Japan.

A similar pair of screens made by Ogata Kōrin about 5[3] to 12[4] years later depicting irises is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. All four Irises screens were displayed together for the first time in almost a century[5] in 2012 at the "Korin: National Treasure Irises of the Nezu Museum and Eight-Bridge of The Metropolitan Museum of Art" exhibition at the Nezu Museum.[6]

Both screens are inspired by an episode in The Tales of Ise.[7] In turn, copies of the screens are believed to have influenced the post-impressionist paintings of Vincent van Gogh, including his Irises.

  1. ^ Daugherty 2003, p. 42.
  2. ^ "Irises". Columbia University. Retrieved 2017-09-16.
  3. ^ "Irises at Yatsuhashi (Eight Bridges)". Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 2017-09-20.
  4. ^ "National Treasure Irises of the Nezu Museum and Eight-Bridge of the Metropolitan Museum of Art". Nezu Museum. Retrieved 2017-09-20.
  5. ^ "National Treasure Irises of the Nezu Museum and Eight-Bridge of the Metropolitan Museum of Art". Nezu Museum. Retrieved 2017-09-20.
  6. ^ "Irises at Yatsuhashi (Eight Bridges)". Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 2017-09-20.
  7. ^ "Irises at Yatsuhashi (Eight Bridges)". Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 2017-09-20.