"Fourth Month" from Fujiwara no Teika's "Birds and Flowers of the Twelve Months". Artist: Ogata Kenzan (Japanese, 1663-1743). Culture: Japan. Dimensions: Image: 6 5/16 x 8 15/16 in. (16 x 22.7 cm)Overall with mounting: 43 1/4 x 19 in. (109.9 x 48.3 cm)Overall with knobs: 43 1/4 x 20 5/8 in. (109.9 x 52.4 cm). Date: 1743.Kenzan, brother of the painter and designer Ogata Korin (1658-1716), is best known as a potter but was also a gifted painter and calligrapher. This small painting was separated from a group of twelve representing plants and animals symbolic of the twelve months, each inscribed with two poems. The poems were taken from the Shuiguso, a collection of verse by the influential poet and calligrapher Fujiwara Teika (1162-1241). The poems from the fourth month refer to unohana (deutzia flowers) and to the hototogisu, a bird related to the cuckoo. They read:Shirotae no koromo hosu cho natsu no kite kakine mo tawa ni sakeru u no hana Hototogisu Shinobu no sato ni sato