Tani Bunchō
1818 (Bunsei 1)
Donated by the Homma family
Tani Bunchō (1763–1841) was a literati painter and poet of the late Edo period (1603–1868). Born to a samurai family—retainers to the Tayasu family, who were descendants of the eighth Tokugawa shōgun—he became the chief retainer of daimyō and senior councilor Matsudaira Sadanobu (1759–1829). He was also involved in compiling the Shūko jisshu (Assembled Antiquities in Ten Categories), a comprehensive visual record of old objects first published in 1800.
This work comprises a pair of six-panel folding screens depicting landscapes throughout the four seasons. The right screen depicts spring and summer scenes, while the left depicts autumn and winter scenes.
The final winter scene on the left screen bears the inscription “By Bunchō, fifth lunar month of the Year of the Earth Tiger, first year of the Bunsei era,” indicating that it had been painted when he was 56 years old. His works between 1811 and 1840 are sometimes referred to being in the “Karasu-Bunchō” style—characterized by its fluidity of expression—in reference to the “bun” (文) in his signature resembling a crow (karasu). This is a major work from this period of his life.
These screens were bequeathed to the Homma family by the Sakai family of the Shōnai district. Later, Bunchō’s grandson, Bunchu, learnt of the existence of these paintings, and visited the Homma family to create studies of them.