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Quails

Kakemono, unique work, 185 x 60 cm
Product number: 4305

Sold – no longer available

This piece was a handmade one-of-a-kind work. It cannot be reordered and will never exist in this form again. The page stays online as part of our archive.

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Details about the sold piece

  • Height 185 cm
  • Width 60 cm
  • Item Type Kakemono
  • Jikusaki Bone
  • Material Honshi Silk
  • Period of Creation Meiji (1868–1912)
  • Technique Hand-Painted
  • Unique Work Yes
Sold

No longer available

Description

With the finest brush and carefully applied layers of color, the painter rendered the speckled plumage of two quails foraging for food beneath overhanging millet ears and blue-flowering morning glories.

The warm brown tones of the birds harmonize with the golden background, while the vivid blue blossoms and the slender blades of grass lend additional freshness to the composition. The naturalistic precision with which the feathers and plants are rendered attests to great painterly skill. The work was created in the Meiji period on silk, signed; the jikusaki ends are made of bone.

Quails are counted among the popular autumn motifs in Japanese bird-and-flower painting and symbolize modesty and domestic happiness. This kakemono combines fine craftsmanship with a quiet, nature-bound pictorial language.

Frequently asked

No – as a one-of-a-kind piece it exists in a single example only.
We would be glad to look for one. Get in touch with the details of the object you are looking for and we will see what we can do.
Because the two pieces of information speak about different things: the period designation describes the object – support, colors, condition – while the signature reflects which name appears on the painting. In most cases there is no attempt at deception behind this, but rather Japanese painting training: copying from workshop models was the curriculum for centuries, an utsushi is regarded as a bow to the teacher, workshops signed with the master's name, and artist names were passed down within a school. Such a hanging scroll is therefore not a forgery, but a hand-painted one-of-a-kind that continues the formal language of its school – just not the work of the famous name, and priced accordingly. We explain this in detail in the guide Why does a kakemono often bear the signature of an artist long deceased?.