Zypressen

This great golden screen dates to about 1590, at the height of Japan's Momoyama age, when warlords were unifying the country and raising vast castles that wanted decoration to match their power. Kanō Eitoku led the workshop that supplied such work, and he pioneered the bold manner seen here, heavy colour laid over sheets of gold leaf. A single ancient cypress spreads its thick trunk and branches across the panels, too big for the frame, set against gold clouds and dark blue water. It was made to line the sliding doors and screens of a grand residence. Eitoku died in 1590, worn down by the scale of the commissions, and this counts among his last works.