Six-Panel Japanese Screen Depicting a Courtly Gathering

Japanese hand painted byobu six panel screen, presenting an intimate view into the raised interior chambers of an aristocratic residence, its architecture built on the diagonal, roofline-lifted perspective (fukinuki yatai) long used in Japanese narrative screen painting to let the viewer look directly into private rooms as though the roof itself had been lifted away. At upper left, a seated nobleman in white patterned robes reclines at ease on a cushion, a sword resting on its stand beside him, while a reclining companion rests nearby beneath a small potted planting — a picture of relaxed, private leisure rather than formal audience. Below them, two seated attendants in dark patterned robes converse quietly, and a third figure in vivid red kneels at the edge of the scene, her posture and coloring echoed by the pair of women who anchor the composition’s most detailed passage. That passage — captured in closer detail — shows two women advancing along the veranda bearing small lacquered trays set with white ceramic cups, their kimono rendered in strikingly different registers: one in brilliant vermilion patterned with delicate vine and leaf motifs, its long hem trailing across the floor in the sculptural, weighted folds typical of formal court dress; the other in a deep aubergine ground scattered with cherry blossoms, equally voluminous, her dark hair falling in a long single plait down her back. Between them and slightly behind, a third woman’s face peers out from beneath a partially raised bamboo blind (misu), its woven green slats bordered in brocade and finished with red silk tassels swaying at the roll — a small but vivid detail that captures the layered, partially screened quality of aristocratic domestic space. Beside this group, a set of painted sliding doors (fusuma) opens onto a further interior, its surface decorated with autumn grasses, blue bellflowers, and yellow chrysanthemum-type blooms, placing the scene within an autumnal setting. The long diagonal corridor and slatted railing that dominate the right-hand panels serve a dual purpose: they carry the eye from the gathered figures at left toward an open, hazy exterior beyond, while also reinforcing the raking architectural perspective that structures the whole composition. Gold-ground cloud reserves drift above the rooftop, unifying the individual vignettes — the reclining courtiers, the seated attendants, the women bearing refreshments — into a single continuous narrative moment, in keeping with the tradition of screens illustrating classical court literature such as the Tale of Genji or comparable Heian-inspired romances. Throughout, the artist reserves the finest brushwork for the figures — faces individualized in expression, hair rendered strand by strand, textile patterns built up with real specificity — while the architecture and green tatami-matted floor are treated more broadly, a contrast that draws the eye first to the human drama of the scene and rewards a second, closer look at its supporting detail. This combination of a sweeping architectural framework with passages of genuinely fine, close-focus painting makes the screen a strong candidate for close-range display, where its narrative incident and costume detail can be fully appreciated. Age: early Meiji period (1868 – 1912) Dimensions: 132″ long x 48″ high