A pair of folding screens with pampas grasses

18th century

171 x 378 cm each

This pair of screens represents bushes of pampas grasses (suzuki) floating in a rich gilded ground.

Being the pampas grasses a typical autumn plant it is often connected, as the season itself, with the cycle of life and its transience.

In the plain of Kanto, now Tokyo, there was a huge and beautiful expanse of pampas grasses called Musashino. Since ancient times many Japanese poets have praised the Musashino views: it is probably this enchanted place that is represented on this pair of byobu.