Genre Scenes (Fūzoku byōbu)
About 1640
Medium
Six-fold screen; ink, color, gold and silver on paper
Dimensions
Painting: 147 × 349 cm (57 7/8 × 137 7/16 in.); Frame: 160.5 × 364 cm (63 1/4 × 143 5/16 in.)
Classification
screen
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
8044
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
The large building complex depicted here contains a bathhouse, teahouse, kitchen, puppet-show theater, and a games room. Inside, commoners and aristocrats alike enjoy the various forms of entertainment, while outside, people dance, play music, and wrestle. A kasamawashi, a street performer who balances objects on a spinning umbrella, performs to the left of the dancers. In scenes of merriment like this one, Japanese artists often depicted figures fighting—this painting includes a sumo match and ...
About the Artist
Unknown
The artist designated as "Unknown" in our virtual museum's collection exemplifies a poignant chapter in art history: creators whose identities have faded into obscurity despite the enduring power of their work. With only one known artwork attributed to them in our holdings, this figure represents countless anonymous hands that shaped visual culture across centuries. Museums worldwide, including th...