Matsumura Keibun (1779 - 1843), Birds & Flowers, Shijō School, Edo period (1615-1868), beg. 19th century. Photo courtesy Helena Markus Antique Japanese Screens.

Pair of two-fold screens. Signature “Keibun”. Seals “Keibun Keika (?)”. Ink and colour on buff paper with gold sand (kin-sunago).H 173 x W 182 cm

Matsumura Keibun lived in Kyōto and studied with his elder brother Matsumura Goshun as well as with Maruyama Ōkyo. Ōkyo’s blend of realism and decorative beauty exerted a great influence on him.

He served as an attendant to the Buddhist priest Shinnin, and lived in Kyōto, at the Myōhō-in, which still owns many of his paintings.

After Goshun’s death, Matsumura Keibun and Okamoto Toyohiko inherited the studio on Shijō Street and the responsibility for the Shijō school. From 1818 until his death, Keibun was one of the leading artists of Kyōto as well as the most representative painter of the Shijō school. The quality of his work can be considered equal to his brother’s but what is more, he is also famous for having consolidated the style of the Shijō school.

Keibun specialized in paintings of birds and flowers (kachō-ga) often drawn from nature and beautifully exemplified by this pair of screens. The brushwork which makes up the plants features a wide range of tonal variations, giving the forms a convincing sense of naturalism.

However, in contrast to the Maruyama school the strokes are applied with a spontaneity and lightness of touch. In this composition he gives great importance to the empty spaces which he fills with limpid and clear design executed with subtle ink washes in light brush strokes, in the line with the Shijō tradition.

Keibun takes a great deal of interest in the Rinpa school of painting, and masters its style, as reflected in the decorative approach in many of his works, including these screens.

The two screens have been published as a pair for the first time in the catalogue of "Kyōto Bijutsu Club, Bid for Ueda Sakujiro Collection, January 1934".
Keibun’s works can be found in the Indianapolis Museum of Art, National Gallery of Victoria, Australia; British Museum; Museum of Fine Arts Boston (William Sturgis Bigelow Collection and Fenollosa-Weld Collection).

Provenance: Japan

Literature: - "Kyoto Bijutsu Club, Bid for Ueda Sakujiro Collection, January 1934"
- "Season in Japanese Screens" Helena Markus, 2011

Helena Markus Antique Japanese Screens. MasterArt at TEFAF 2014. 14-23 march 2014 - http://www.masterart.com/