Drying Fish-nets Screens

Drying Fish-nets Screens

This work comes from the Prince Katsura family, and though there is no signature or seal, it is attributed to Kaiho Yusho, who had friendship with Prince Toshihito, father of the Hachijo family. Transition of the four seasons from spring to winter are depicted as dexterous scenery with the sea, a sandy beach, a net, and reeds. Though it seems to be a simple composition, the delicate expressions in the detailed lines of the net, the minute gold and silver particles scattered around the sea and sandbank, and the fine flaked snow in the winter reed fields, sufficiently show the skill of the painter. In a recent restoration, writing dating 1602 was discovered under the surface paper, suggesting the date it was painted. （「New Edition　Grace, Beauty and Inqenuity-Masterpices of the Museum of Imperial Collections, Sannomaru Shozokan　Vol.1」2003）