Autumn Maples with Poem Slips

Autumn Maples with Poem Slips, c. 1675, Tosa Mitsuoki
via Chicago Art Institute

Japanese aristocrats engaged in the elegant custom of recollecting classical poetry while viewing spring and autumn foliage. In these delicate screens, premier court painter Tosa Mitsuoki meditated on the inevitable passage of beauty by depicting the melancholy hours after the departure of reveling courtiers. A cherry tree bursts into bloom on the right screen (seen here at top), while its mate displays the brilliant red and gold foliage of maples in autumn. Slips of poetry, called tanzaku, waft from the blossoming limbs, the lingering signs of a human presence.

Click through on the link above to see the screens large enough to appreciate their full beauty.