酒井抱一　「芍薬と蝶」　絹本着色掛幅　 江戸時代

This hanging scroll is by Sakai Hōitsu but recalls the concentrated and sophisticated style of Ogata Kōrin (1658–1716), the founder of the Japanese Rinpa school. Hōitsu was born in Edo, into the Sakai samurai family of Himeji Castle, in today’s Hyōgo Prefecture. In 1797 he became a Buddhist monk. Then, in 1807, he turned to art and dedicated the last twenty-one years of his life to emulating Kōrin’s style. This painting displays the puddled-ink technique (tarashikomi), in which wet ink is dropped onto the surface and allowed to dry; here, it makes the leaves look particularly verdant and alive. Like other early nineteenth-century paintings, this work shows a variety of influences: the Western practice of preparatory sketching is evident in the flower petals and stems, and the flattened quality of the design recalls the Rinpa school.