Cherry Blossom Viewing Picnic

ca. 1624–1644

1 of 6

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This 17th-century folding screen is one of the earliest examples of ukiyo-e, a genre of Japanese art that celebrates entertainments available to ordinary people. The screen shows low-level samurai warriors traveling to a spring picnic in the company of sex workers. Japanese artists had portrayed the cherry blossom season for centuries, but never before had they focused on such an undistinguished and modern group of revelers.

The subject forecasts a dramatic change that was just beginning when the screen was made: Japanese high culture, once available only to aristocrats, was reaching new audiences thanks to prosperity and urbanization in the Edo period. The growing upper middle class emulated the elite’s practices and tastes, but they also introduced new styles and subjects for theater, poetry, and visual arts.

Ukiyo-e, or “Images of the Floating World,” was one such innovation. The genre was not named until much later, but this screen’s subject matter—especially the fashionably dressed sex workers—is similar to that of 18th- and 19th-century ukiyo-e paintings and woodblock prints. Decorated with gold leaf, the screen was expensive and likely commissioned by someone of a much higher class than the people depicted. It is hard to imagine why the patron chose this subject, but it was certainly ahead of its time.

Object Label

In Japan the seventeenth century witnessed an era of political stability that was characterized by an increased prominence of urban culture and a dramatic rise in the economic and social status of formerly middle-class groups such as merchants, artisans, and the lesser ranks of the military. These groups used their new prosperity to support new genres of art that represented urban life, particularly the fashionable activities of the entertainment districts.

The Cherry Blossom Viewing screen can be considered a very early prototype for ukiyo-e painting (literally, "pictures of the floating world"). Better known from woodblock prints, ukiyo-e portrays popular actors, beautiful women, famous sites, and such popular diversions as the springtime tradition of cherry blossom viewing. The highly fashionable crowd making its way across the screen is actually professional pleasure women (yujo) and their clients, who are low-ranking samurai. While the scene carries various levels of meaning, romance is implied by the action of a woman extending a branch of cherry blossoms with a poem strip (tanzaku) to the men following behind.

Caption

Cherry Blossom Viewing Picnic, ca. 1624–1644. Ink, color and gold leaf on paper, Overall: 39 3/8 x 105 7/8in. (100 x 268.9cm) Other: 33 9/16 x 86 1/2in. (85.2 x 219.7cm) Image (outer panel): 33 7/8 x 20 1/2 in. (86 x 52.1 cm) Image (inner panel): 33 7/8 x 22 5/8 in. (86 x 57.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Frederic B. Pratt, 39.87. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)

Gallery

Not on view

Collection

Asian Art

Title

Cherry Blossom Viewing Picnic

Date

ca. 1624–1644

Period

Edo Period, Kan'ei Era

Geography

Place made: Japan

Medium

Ink, color and gold leaf on paper

Classification

Screen

Dimensions

Overall: 39 3/8 x 105 7/8in. (100 x 268.9cm) Other: 33 9/16 x 86 1/2in. (85.2 x 219.7cm) Image (outer panel): 33 7/8 x 20 1/2 in. (86 x 52.1 cm) Image (inner panel): 33 7/8 x 22 5/8 in. (86 x 57.5 cm)

Credit Line

Gift of Frederic B. Pratt

Accession Number

39.87

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