Waxwings, Cherry Blossoms, and Bamboo - Kiyohara Yukinobu

A delicate hanging scroll by Kiyohara Yukinobu, featuring waxwings among cherry blossoms and bamboo, executed in ink and colour on silk.

Kiyohara Yukinobu was a prominent female artist of the seventeenth-century Kano school. This hanging scroll demonstrates the technical precision and balanced composition characteristic of her training within the Kyoto artistic circles. The work depicts a scene of waxwings perched upon and flying near a flowering cherry tree, with bamboo stalks emerging from the base of the composition.

The artist employs a muted palette, allowing the subtle ink washes and soft colour applications to define the forms of the birds and the blossoms. The composition follows the traditional bird-and-flower format, which prioritises the observation of seasonal changes and natural phenomena. The cherry blossoms suggest the arrival of spring, while the waxwings provide a sense of movement across the vertical silk surface. The bamboo, rendered with controlled brushwork, anchors the lower portion of the image, providing a contrast to the delicate petals above.

Yukinobu was the daughter of Kusumi Morikage and a niece of Kano Tan'yu. Her work reflects the stylistic rigour of the Kano lineage, yet she developed a distinct approach to the bird-and-flower genre. The silk support has aged to a warm, golden tone, which complements the ink-based rendering of the birds and the foliage. The brushwork is refined, showing a clear understanding of the weight and pressure required to suggest texture in the feathers and the gnarled bark of the cherry tree. This piece is a representative example of the refined aesthetic favoured by the urban elite in Edo-period Japan, where such scrolls were often displayed in the tokonoma of a residence to mark the changing seasons.