ArtistOsawa Nampo

Birds and Blossom, Autumn

Date 1866-1867
Materials Oil and watercolour on silk
Dimensions 195.0 cm x 182.0 cm (Fully open, in frame)
Marks Signed and inscribed in Japanese on the right screen: "This work was painted near Meirindo by Nampo in third period of ten days of July 1867"; signed and inscribed in Japanese on the left screen: "This work was painted near Meirindo by Nampo in first period of ten days of August 1866."
Further information GLAHA 46380.
Andrew McLaren Young, Margaret F. MacDonald, Robin Spencer and Hamish Miles, The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 1980 (139, plate 395, 396).

Note These delicately painted panels depicting birds, flowers and apple trees were originally part of a larger screen. They were painted in a Chinese style. Whistler may have been attracted to them, not only because of their oriental character, but because they include painted butterflies, his special motif. How many butterflies can you see on the panels? Whistler painted the reverse of the screen with a view of Old Battersea Bridge [link – Painting/City and the Sea/Nocturnes/GLAHA 46053], inspired by Japanese prints, and decorated the frame with a butterfly, flower and bamboo design.

Related works GLAHA 46053.