Birds and Flowers, late 1500s. Attributed to Kano Shōei (Japanese, 1519-1592). One of a pair of six-panel folding screens; ink, color, and gold on paper; image: 155.9 x 339.4 cm (61 3/8 x 133 5/8 in.); overall: 168.5 x 352.2 cm (66 5/16 x 138 11/16 in.); closed: 172.5 x 61 x 11.3 cm (67 15/16 x 24 x 4 7/16 in.); with frame: 171.7 x 355.4 cm (67 5/8 x 139 15/16 in.). Unhurried contemplation of these screens reveals that their appearance differs slightly. Notice the shapes of the rocks and pine trunks. The actual ink lines defining their contours and the many brushstrokes providing textual definition to forms and surfaces show two distinct hands at work in the late 16th-century Kyoto. Both Kano Shei and Kano Mitsunobu were well known throughout the country for their skills. As masters of the Kano academic painting style, they naturally favored Chinese-inspired subject matter, such as birds and flowers, rendered in emphatic ink tonalities and placed within mountainous landscape settings