酒井抱一筆 桜楓図屏風|Cherry and Maple Trees
early 1820s
Medium
Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink, color, and gold leaf on paper
Dimensions
Image (each): 62 3/8 in. × 11 ft. 2 5/8 in. (158.5 × 342 cm) Overall (each): 68 7/8 in. × 11 ft. 9 in. (175 × 358.1 cm)
Classification
Paintings
Culture & Period
Japan · Edo period (1615–1868)
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Mary and James G. Wallach Foundation Gift, Rogers and Mary Livingston Griggs and Mary Griggs Burke Foundation Funds, and Brooke Russell Astor Bequest, 2018
Accession Number
2018.55.1, .2
Rights
Public Domain
Art Historical Context
This pair of six-panel folding screens presents a graceful cherry tree in full bloom, its gnarled brown trunk rising from a gentle green hillside and arching across the composition. Delicate white blossoms and trailing green leaves cascade from the branches, set against a luminous gold-leaf background that fills the space with a soft, reflective glow. The image unfolds across the joined panels, inviting viewers to follow the tree’s flowing lines from left to right. Painted by Sakai Hōitsu in the early 1820s during Japan’s Edo period, the screens are executed in ink, color, and gold leaf on paper. Hōitsu drew on earlier traditions of decorative screen painting to create works that balance natural observation with refined elegance. Together with its companion screen of maple trees, this piece demonstrates the artist’s skill in capturing seasonal beauty on a grand scale, offering museum visitors a sense of quiet seasonal transition within the refined aesthetics of the period.
About the Artist
Sakai Hōitsu · 1761–1828
Japanese, 1761–1828