unsigned; thick field of barley painted against a gold leaf background

Barley Field, early 17th century

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A sea of barley with green stalks and white spikes fills this screen. The golden clouds, a typical feature of Japanese screens, meets the edge of the field along a curved line, giving the impression that the heads of barley are touching the sky. In Japan, farmers paired barley and rice for multiple cropping. After the rice was harvested in autumn, they grew barley in the same fields and reaped them in the early summer in preparation for the rice planting to begin the cycle again.

Because the spikes here are white while the stalks are green, the barley depicted are likely in the process of maturing, representing early summer. In Japanese painting, plants often indicated a season or specific time of year.

Details
Title
Barley Field
Role
Artist
Accession Number
2015.79.94
Catalogue Raisonne
Murase, Art through a Lifetime, no. 213
Curator Approved

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unsigned; thick field of barley painted against a gold leaf background