Kakemono Mother with Children in the Snow

A mother under a wide sun hat carries a small child in a cloth against her chest, while two other children trudge through the snow at her side – one of them leading a small dog on a leash. The footprints in the snow and the careful, somewhat hunched posture of the children immediately convey the coldness of the scene, while the mother's calm, upright gait radiates protection and security.

The delicate coloring in white, red, and muted black, as well as the fine floral patterns on the children's garments, show the attention to detail typical of Bijinga painting, here applied to an entire family scene.

Such depictions of a mother with several children are rarer than classic individual portraits and lend this hanging scroll a particularly warm, domestic quality.