Hollyhocks [left of a pair of Plum Trees and Hollyhocks]

Ogata Kenzan is best known as a potter, but he was also a successful painter, especially after moving from Kyoto to Edo in his late sixties. Kenzan was the younger brother of painter Ogata Kōrin, from whom the decorative Rinpa school takes its name—rin from Kōrin paired with pa, meaning “school.” On a ground of gold leaf, Kenzan presents red and white camellias blooming on a small hillock below a large plum tree at right and, at left, pink, white, and red hollyhocks. With this placement of the motifs, Kenzan turned the folded surface of the screen into a vital component of the composition.