Kakemono Bird on a Maple Branch

A small bird with iridescent blue plumage sits on a winding maple branch, its leaves in tones of red and orange announcing autumn – a motif full of lightness that shows Japanese bird-and-flower painting (Kachō-ga) at its finest. The coloring is subtly graduated, from the deep blue of the back to the warm rust-red of the breast, while the delicately painted leaves hang from the branch in varying stages of ripeness, lending the composition a natural sense of movement.

The painting is executed on silk and bears the signature and seal of the painter Suma Natsugo. It was created in the Shôwa period, when many artists consciously turned back to classical themes of nature painting. The scroll mounting ends with jikusaki tips made of synthetic material.

This evocative kakemono is delivered including a signed wooden box (tomobako) – a piece whose calm, seasonal scenery comes into its own both in a traditional tokonoma and as a decorative element in a bright, modern room.