Sparrows on a Blossoming Cherry Tree Branch

Artists

Description

This is the right, two-panel screen from a pair intended to be viewed together as a single composition. It depicts a partial view of a cherry tree trunk, with just a few thin flowering branches rising up into the scene and a more substantial branch sprouting leftward from the trunk and out of the visual field. The two-panel screen on the left continues the arc of this screen’s left-sprouting branch. The imagery is painted in ink, color, and white pigments over a gold paper ground. A signature and red square relief seal appear in the lower right corner of the right panel. These screens originated as a set of sliding cabinet doors, as indicated by traces of circular damage at the midpoints of the left and right edges of each screen panel, where the handling implement to slide each door once existed.

Dimensions

painting proper: H. 33.5 x W. 121.9 cm (13 3/16 x 48 in.) frame: H. 52 x W. 145.2 cm (20 1/2 x 57 3/16 in.)

Provenance

Louis V. Ledoux Collection, New York (by 1948), by descent; to his son L. Pierre Ledoux, New York (1948-2001), by inheritance; to his widow Joan F. Ledoux, New York, (2001-2013), gift; to Harvard Art Museums, 2013. Footnotes: 1. Louis V. Ledoux (1880-1948) 2. L. Pierre Ledoux (1912-2001) 3. On long term loan to Harvard Art Museums from 1981 to 2013.