Kakemono Winter Landscape with Birds by the River

A snow-covered riverside landscape with a thatched-roof hut, bare branches, and reeds by the water, while a few birds fly low over the scenery – a quiet winter landscape characteristic of Japanese painting of the Edo period.

The hanging scroll bears the signature and seal of Sakai Hōitsu (1761–1829), one of the most important representatives of the Rimpa school, known for his decorative yet naturalistic pictorial language. The fine rendering of snow on roofs and branches shows the sensitivity to light and season typical of Hōitsu. The restrained coloring – muted beige and gray, interrupted by the dark silhouettes of the birds – creates a quiet, almost wintry cool atmosphere that lets the viewer come to rest.

The work is delivered including a signed wooden box, an additional sign of the care with which this painting was originally kept.