Important Cultural Property

Autumn Flowerbaskets

Edo Period, 18th century　Color on paper, hanging scroll
112.5cm x 49.2cm
Matsunaga Collection

OGATA Kenzan

1633 - 1743

Three baskets rendered in sumi ink are filled with autumn flowers and grasses. Japanese pampas grass, chrysanthemums, ominaeshi or maiden flower, and Chinese bellflower are vividly depicted, each filled with white dew that gives a feeling of freshness and vital power.
At the same time, the flowers are surrounded by a faint dark haze, and there is a lonely atmosphere. There may be a light wind blowing, and the flowers and grasses are bent, especially the bellflower is almost blown out of the frame. The poetic inscription on the upper part may be a bit slanted because of this wind.
The poem, which reads in part “There are a thousand kinds of flowers, and not all soon fade and fall, because their color and scent lives in the dewdrops that give them life,” by a court noble, Sanjonishi Sanetaka, conveys the glorious and evanescent emotions of autumn.
The artist is Ogata Kenzan (1663-1743), active in the Edo Period (1603-1868), was a younger brother of Ogata Korin (1658-1716), known as the greatest artist of the Rimpa school. Kenzan was from a family of kimono fabric dealers who were purveyors to the Imperial family in Kyoto, and he cultivated his great talent for ceramics and painting through interactions with famous monks and court nobles.