Kano Michinobu “Quails”

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IItem No.
Title	“Quails”
Overall size	126.0cm×66.0cm
Artwork size	40.6cm×56.2cm
Artist	By Kano Michinobu (1730-90)
Date Created	18th century
Price	￥800,000（excluding tax ）

　Focusing on two motifs, silver grass and quails, the artist carefully depicts each.
　The quail’s distinctive pattern is skillfully rendered in a combination of black and white dots. The fluffy texture of the quail’s breast is beautifully reproduced. The tips of the silver grass are also represented by dotted dots.
　Overall, the blank space in the painting evokes a sense of autumnal loneliness. It is a very atmospheric painting.

　Quails, known for their high-pitched cries in the autumn evenings, have been used in many waka and haiku poems as a symbolic scene of the lonely autumn season. Quails were a familiar animal to the people of the Edo period. At that time, raising quails was popular, and quails were also used for elegant games, such as events in which people competed with each other to see how they looked and how they sounded.

　Kano Michinobu (1730-90), the sixth generation of the Kano family of Kobikicho, was ordained Hogen at the age of 33 and became a Hoin at 51. He is said to have been trusted by Ieharu, the shogun.
　Michinobu felt threatened by the rise of the Nanpin school, and in order to revive the Kano family, which had been weakened, he revived the production of Chinese-style paintings, which had been the original style of the Kano family. In “Daikokuzu” in the collection of the Itabashi Art Museum, the powerful brush strokes of the Kano family that Norinobu revived can be seen.

As an antique, it may have some scratches or blemishes. We recommend that you visit our store to check the condition.
If you wish, we will send you detailed photos of the item, so please feel free to contact us.