Page 124 - Bonham's Asian Art London November 2015

293 Cranes are a long lived species; one captive crane is known to have
ANONYMOUS (EDO PERIOD) lived for 83 years, confirming the Chinese and Japanese tradition that
Four Cranes, two panel screen the bird is to be considered as a metaphor for long life.
Ink and pigment on paper, painted with a group of four cranes, feeding As such, the species frequently occurs across all genre of Japanese
beside a meandering stream with pine trees in the background. Each Art. Sukashi Tsuba for example, from a variety of Schools, including the
leaf: 165cm x 89cm (65in x 35ins) Tosa Myochin, Hayashi and Akasaka, all take the crane as a motif. The
peace which the Tokugawa brought to Japan allowed elegant screen
£15,000 - 20,000 making to proliferate. Both the civilian and the Samurai population
CNY150,000 - 190,000 were relieved that the endless civil strife had ended, allowing Edo to
HK$180,000 - 240,000 grow in stability, and thereby encouraging interior design to see an
increased demand.
The famous red-crowned crane, Grus Japonensis, is now amongst It was also during the Edo Period that Cranes could be seen across
the rarest of cranes left in the wild. They breed in Siberia and parts of Satsuma Province, but in 1694 they were observed on the Izumi
Mongolia, migrating to East Asia during the Autumn. Despite their size plain, just to the northwest of Kagoshima in present day Kagoshima
and weight, adults perform a synchronised dance during courtship, Prefecture.
emphasising their bonding. Izumi has since become the best known migration stop for Cranes,
wintering in Japan.
Cranes inhabit wetlands, and belong to an ancient order whose class
is mentioned by Herodotus when discussing the Ibis. Pliny The Elder
also reminds us that Homer’s Iliad records a tribe who were beset
by cranes whose eggs were eaten in order to control their numbers
[VII/26].

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