Six-panel screen with carps and seaweed

Six-panel folding screen (byobu)

Ink on silver ground, 134 x 360 cm

The screen is decorated with an extremely dynamic composition representing some carps while wriggling between the waves of the sea surrounded by thick bushes of seaweeds. Born in Kyoto, Kano Eigaku (1790 -1867) studied under his father-in-low Kano Eishun, by whom he had been adopted. As a member of the Kyo-Kao school, he became a leading Kano painter in the late Edo Period and worked in the Kyoto imperial palace. His painting is rich and decorative, as in this case, retaining also some elements of the Shijo techniques and style.