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A Palace Scene in Snow

	Object Type	17th Century Japanese Scroll
	Artist	Yukinobu
	Period	Edo
	Materials	Color on Silk
	Creation Date	ca. 1670
	Dimensions	43 cm. x 57.5 cm. (16 7/8 in. x 22 5/8 in.)

Commentary

This painting depicts a classical theme popularly known in the form of a poem by the Tang Dynasty poet, Bo Jui. The spectacle of a beautiful court lady rolling up the bamboo blinds of a royal residence in a snowy landscape illustrates the story of Lady Seishonagon. Yukinobu has captured the essence of the classic tale with refined brushwork and detail, preserving the elegant nature of the courtly subject. This is one example showing how Kano school artists depicted classical subjects in a manner similar to that of the Tosa and Sumiyoshi schools. Furthermore, this work has a feminine quality in its careful and meticulous reproduction of courtly elegance. Yukinobu was highly praised as one of the finest women artists of the Edo period. - JDP A combination of a scene with snowy palace and a lady rolling up a reed screen is the story from Makuranososhi, chapter 280. This is the famous chapter, revealing Lady Sei Shonagon's intelligent, erudite and witty quality. In this picture the person whom we can see through the screen is the emperor, not a lady as in the story. The emperor is symbolically placed here to imply that the scene look place at a palace with Lady Sei Shonagon. During the Edo period, themes connected with elegant life style of the Heian court became popular. For example, Tale of Genji was a popular theme painted by many schools. The artist is Kiyohara Yukinobu. She was a daughter of Kusumi Yasukage (1641-1682), who studied under Kano Tanyu. She was well known as a female artist during the Edo period. This is a good example of the work of the Kano school attempting to emulate the Tosa and Sumiyoshi schools. (Shirohata)