Description
A graceful Japanese six-panel folding screen (byōbu) painted in mineral pigments on paper in the Rimpa style, depicting clusters of white chrysanthemums arranged across a softly luminous ground of alternating silver and gold leaf. Elegant and restrained, the composition celebrates the quiet beauty of autumn through a refined interplay of floral form, open space, and luminous surface.
Delicately rendered sprays of chrysanthemums rise across the screen in asymmetrical groupings, their white blossoms floating against alternating passages of warm gold and cool silver leaf. The flowers are painted with remarkable restraint, their crisp white petals and golden centers emerging gently from finely articulated foliage in soft blue-green tones. Each grouping is given generous surrounding space, allowing the composition to breathe and emphasizing the quiet rhythm and balance characteristic of Rimpa design.
The alternating metallic ground creates a subtle visual cadence across the six panels, shifting between warmth and coolness as light moves across the surface. This luminous contrast heightens the decorative elegance of the screen while reinforcing the seasonal atmosphere. The minimal composition, softened palette, and rhythmic floral placement reflect the Rimpa school’s celebrated emphasis on stylization, poetic restraint, and decorative sophistication.
In Japanese art, chrysanthemums (kiku) are among the most revered seasonal motifs, symbolizing longevity, rejuvenation, nobility, and the refined beauty of autumn. Closely associated with the Imperial House, the chrysanthemum has long served as an emblem of endurance, elegance, and auspicious renewal. Within the Rimpa tradition, floral subjects such as these were prized for their ability to unite decorative simplicity with lyrical naturalism, transforming seasonal flora into meditative and highly refined compositions.
Quietly sophisticated and timeless in design, this Japanese six-panel screen is a refined decorative work, combining the luminous elegance of silver and gold leaf with the poetic restraint and enduring beauty of the Rimpa aesthetic.
Age: Meiji period 1868 – 1912
Dimensions: 144″ wide x 65″ high