Page 426 - Edo: Art in Japan, 1615–1868

2 36

425

the image of a beautiful woman who of fullness to the garments. The play Nezu Institute of Fine Arts and Hon-
remains inaccessible, though her of the actual folding of the screen nóji, suggesting that this screen may
presence might be suggested by her against the highly stylized folding of have originally included four other
incense-scented robes. the fictive robes draws attention to panels.
a fundamental metaphors of folding
Seventeenth-century paintings of and unfolding, dressing and undress- Each of the two screens from the Mit-
people on picnics or in bordellos often sui Bunko collection (cat. 236) was
featured vignettes of garments draped ing. The gold backgrounds help to apparently the left screen of a pair, or
over racks while their owners partook set off the elaborate textile patterns perhaps each was simply designed to
feeling of luxury
while adding to the
of leisurely pursuits. And garment stand alone. Comparison of the images
racks draped with elegant robes were and wealth. The two-panel screen demonstrates how painting work-
sometimes used to create a smaller, shown here (cat. 235) is unusual not shops would follow set compositional
only in format but in its composition,
more intimate space in a larger room which includes a background of slid- formulas while changing only the dec-
of a residence. oration of the fabrics. Compared with
ing paper panels rather than a plain
Although screens such as these gold field. Screens with similar com- earlier seventeenth-century examples
may convey a flat, completely static positions in the usual six-panel for- in the tradition, the less minute detail
impression in reproduction, in fact mat survive in the collections of the and the use of single-colored robes in
they make effective use of the fold- these screens seem to indicate a date
century. JTC
later in the
ing-screen format to add a sense