SAKAI HOITSU: A SUPERB RIMPA SCHOOL EIGHT-PANEL BYOBU (FOLDING SCREEN) DEPICTING A FLOCK OF MANAZURU CRANES

By Sakai Hoitsu (1761–1828), signed Hoitsu hitsu with seal Monsen
Japan, early 19^th century, Edo period (1615-1868)

Ink, watercolors, and gold paint on paper. Mounted on silk brocade on eight wood panels with metal fittings. Finely painted with frolicking white-naped cranes standing in a sedge as they pick on marshy ground, one preening itself, as three others attentively watch two more cranes swoop in, joining the herd. The plumage of each crane is finely painted and shaded, their eyes encircled with a patch of red with speckles, and their elongated beaks painted in mottled shades of gray.

Inscriptions: To the bottom left, signed Hoitsu hitsu [painted by Hoitsu] with seal Monsen.

SIZE 178.5 x 533 cm

Condition: Very good condition with minor wear and well-preserved colors. Few stains and small worm holes. The back with traces of wear and use.
Provenance: Formerly with Finch & Co., London. The Finch Gallery is a dynamic and eclectic space, offering exceptional pieces including ethnography, European art, natural history, and Asian antiques.

The crane is one of the most prominent symbols of longevity and good fortune in Asia. They are believed to have a long lifespan and to traverse between heaven and earth. In turn, these attributes have made them logical companions of sennin, the Taoist Immortals. The red-crowned or Japanese crane depicted on this screen is said to live for 1,000 years.

This eight-panel folding screen is one from a direct line of monumental crane paintings by nineteenth-century artists who drew inspiration from screens by the celebrated Rinpa painter Ogata Korin. An avid admirer of Korin, Sakai Hoitsu knew his screens with cranes (see Cranes, by Ogata Korin, late 17^th-early 18^th century, in the National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, accession number F1956.20-21), and in 1815, published them in his catalog of Korin’s oeuvre, One Hundred Paintings by Korin (Korin hyakuzu), bringing them to the attention of Rinpa artists of the nineteenth century.

Sakai Hoitsu (1761–1828) was born into a wealthy, influential samurai family and had all the advantages of the finest education, including the opportunity to study many of the painting styles available to artists in Edo Japan. He became a monk in 1797 and adopted the priestly name Monsen Kishin, which appears in part on the seal.

Literature comparison:
Compare a related design of cranes, illustrated by Sakai Hoitsu in his catalog of Korin’s oeuvre, Korin hyakuzu (One Hundred Paintings by Korin), 1817.

Museum comparison:
Compare a related four-panel folding screen by Sakai Hoitsu, bearing the same signature and seal, in the Miho Museum, Japan. Compare a related byobu screen with cranes, by Sakai Hoitsu, likely an homage to Korin, reversing the stance of Korin’s cranes and extending a flowing stream behind them on a gold two-panel folding screen, in the Worcester Museum of Art, accession number 1964.9.