Roosters and Hens [right of a pair]

This pair of folding screens features twelve individual compositions, each pasted onto its own panel, a format known as an oshiebari screen. Each painting shows either a rooster or a hen (look out for two chicks hidden in one picture). Overlaid brushstrokes in varied ink tones capture the details of feathers and combs. Against white paper marked with only the briefest suggestions of natural settings—cactus, bamboo, pine tree, banana plant, willow tree—the birds’ flamboyant poses and dramatic plumage stand out. Chickens were the favorite subject of Itō Jakuchū, one the best-known painters in Kyoto in the 1700s.