2-737-509 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Peafowl and Phoenixes, late 1500s. In this extraordinary pair of screens, pairs of peafowl and phoenixes stand among bamboo and paulownia trees. Phoenixes are fantastical birds said to inhabit paulownia trees and eat bamboo, and to celebrate virtuous rulers. The birds are represented in Japanese art from as early as the Kofun period (about AD 300-710), and their depiction with paulownia trees becomes standard in the decorative arts of the Heian period (794-1185). Peafowl are birds that amuse themselves in the lake of the Buddha Amida’s Pure Land, a paradise where many once hoped to find themselves after death. Both birds appeared on textiles or paintings in the 1500s and 1600s, used in official ceremonies centered around emperors. These screens are attributed to painter Tosa Mitsuyoshi based on their style. Mitsuyoshi is best known for his album leaf paintings of The Tale of Genji. This is the only large-scale bird-and-flower composition in his style to survive.