{"product_id":"vintage-japanese-hanging-scroll-peony-garden-the-flower-queens-proclamation-dated-showa-2-1927-signed-koyo-hyakka-zu","title":"Vintage Japanese Hanging Scroll - Peony Garden \"The Flower Queen's Proclamation\" - Dated Shōwa 2 (1927) -Signed Kōyō - Hyakka-zu","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis vintage Japanese kakemono is one of the most precisely documented \u003cbr\u003eworks in this collection - carrying a colophon that records the exact date and \u003cbr\u003eseason of its creation:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e    時昭和二年丁卯冬日\u003cbr\u003e    \"Painted in winter, Shōwa Year 2, the year of the Rabbit (丁卯)\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShōwa Year 2 = **1927**. The year of Hinoto-U (丁卯) -the Fire Rabbit in \u003cbr\u003ethe sexagenary cycle - a year of creative energy and transformation in \u003cbr\u003eJapanese cultural history, falling squarely in the Taishō-Shōwa cultural \u003cbr\u003erenaissance when Japanese literati painting ( bunjinga) reached one \u003cbr\u003eof its last great flowering moments before the militarist period.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗢𝗘𝗠: 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗘𝗢𝗡𝗬 𝗦𝗣𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗦\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe inscription at the upper right reads in bold xíng shū (行書):\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e    妖嬈 誰似我 富貴獨稱王\u003cbr\u003e    \"Yōjō - dare ka ware ni nitaru - fugui dokushō ō\"\u003cbr\u003e    \"Bewitching and graceful - who rivals me?\u003cbr\u003e     In wealth and splendour, I reign alone as Queen.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is the peony speaking in its own voice - the classical East Asian \u003cbr\u003epoetic device of gijinka ( personification) applied to the most \u003cbr\u003earistocratic of flowers. The peony (botan\/mudan) has been called \u003cbr\u003ethe 花王 (Kaō, \"Flower King\" or \"Flower Queen\") in Chinese and Japanese \u003cbr\u003eculture since the Tang Dynasty (618–907 CE), when Empress Wu Zetian \u003cbr\u003e(武則天) famously exiled all flowers from her garden except the peony \u003cbr\u003efor refusing to bloom on command - and the peony alone refused.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn Japan, the peony entered aristocratic culture through Buddhist temple \u003cbr\u003egardens - the great peony garden at Hase-dera (長谷寺) in Nara remains \u003cbr\u003eone of Japan's most celebrated - and became a symbol of:\u003cbr\u003e- 富貴 (fugui): wealth and rank - the flower of the nobility\u003cbr\u003e- 繁栄 (han'ei): prosperity and flourishing\u003cbr\u003e- 幸福 (kōfuku): happiness and good fortune\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe poem on this scroll places all of that tradition in the mouth of the \u003cbr\u003eflower itself - a declaration of natural sovereignty that is both playful \u003cbr\u003eand entirely serious.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗙𝗟𝗢𝗪𝗘𝗥𝗦: 𝗔 𝗦𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗢𝗡𝗔𝗟 𝗔𝗦𝗦𝗘𝗠𝗕𝗟𝗬\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe composition presents multiple species in what the Japanese tradition \u003cbr\u003ecalls hyakka-zu ( \"hundred flowers painting\") - a gathering of \u003cbr\u003eblooms from different seasons assembled in one ideal garden:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e- Peony ( botan): the dominant presence - large, multi-petalled, \u003cbr\u003e  rendered in overlapping grey washes that suggest the lavish complexity \u003cbr\u003e  of the bloom without colour - a technical choice that elevates the \u003cbr\u003e  flower above mere prettiness into something more austere and powerful\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e- Camellia (sazanka): white petals with a cluster of red-pink \u003cbr\u003e  stamens - the only warm colour in the painting - placed at the \u003cbr\u003e  compositional centre as a focal jewel\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e- Magnolia (mokuren): the distinctive bud forms appear at \u003cbr\u003e  upper right - Japan's spring herald, whose upward-pointing buds \u003cbr\u003e  (like candles before lighting) make it unmistakable\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e- Red plum ( kōbai): small branches with pink-red blossoms at \u003cbr\u003e  lower left - the winter flower, the season when this scroll was painted\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis assembly of flowers from spring, summer, and winter in a single \u003cbr\u003ewinter painting is a deliberate literary device - the painter gathering \u003cbr\u003eall beauty into one imagined moment, the way a poet might gather all \u003cbr\u003eseasons into one poem.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e𝗧𝗘𝗖𝗛𝗡𝗜𝗤𝗨𝗘 \u0026amp; 𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗜𝗦𝗧\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe painting technique moves between the Nanga (南画) literati tradition \u003cbr\u003eand the Shijō school's direct observation of nature:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e- Peony petals: gōhitsu - fine outline strokes combined with \u003cbr\u003e  wet wash infill - creating the layered, translucent quality of \u003cbr\u003e  overlapping petals in monochrome\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e- Leaves: enkaku - quick oval outlines suggesting leaf form \u003cbr\u003e  without detailed vein work - the Nanga shorthand for foliage that \u003cbr\u003e  prioritises rhythmic energy over botanical precision\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e- Rock: haboku - saturated ink in rapid diagonal strokes - \u003cbr\u003e  the bold anchor against which the flowers float\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e- Colour discipline: only two notes of warm colour (camellia stamens \u003cbr\u003e  and plum blossoms) against an entirely ink-based composition - \u003cbr\u003e  the classical ichi-ten kōshoku principle\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe artist signed with the brush name 紅葉 (Kōyō - \"Red Autumn Leaves\") - \u003cbr\u003ea poetic gago of considerable beauty, chosen by a painter who understood \u003cbr\u003ethe seasonal and emotional resonance of colour in nature. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTwo red seals authenticate the work: a rectangular kishōin above the \u003cbr\u003einscription and a rare **oval (楕円印, daen-in)** name seal in the \u003cbr\u003elower right of the painting - the oval seal being an unusual and \u003cbr\u003edistinctive choice that marks a confident artistic personality unwilling \u003cbr\u003eto follow convention even in this small detail.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDated: **Shōwa Year 2 (昭和二年), Winter 1927.**\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e𝗠𝗢𝗨𝗡𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚 \u0026amp; 𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗗𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMounted in hon-hyōgu with warm gold kincha (金茶) brocade \u003cbr\u003efeaturing a fine wave-pattern (波紋, hamon) border - a Shōwa-period \u003cbr\u003emounting in the classical style, its warm gold tones harmonizing \u003cbr\u003ebeautifully with the aged paper ground of the painting.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCondition: Good for period. Paper shows appropriate warm toning \u003cbr\u003econsistent with nearly 100 years of age. Ink stable and vivid. \u003cbr\u003eMounting shows age-consistent wear but remains intact and structurally sound.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e📋 Period confirmed by colophon inscription (昭和二年, 1927). \u003cbr\u003eStyle and attribution based on material and visual analysis. \u003cbr\u003eNo external certificate of authenticity. Sold as-is.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Chikoyaki","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45153082441807,"sku":"CKY-SCR-014-NNGA-BTNS-452","price":350.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0667\/6588\/1423\/files\/IMG_1072_result.jpg?v=1777438961","url":"https:\/\/chikoyaki.com\/products\/vintage-japanese-hanging-scroll-peony-garden-the-flower-queens-proclamation-dated-showa-2-1927-signed-koyo-hyakka-zu","provider":"Chikoyaki","version":"1.0","type":"link"}