Pine trees, water and clouds

17th century

Japanese painters often depict the verdant landscapes of their native land in rich, opaque colors. The paintings on the paper surfaces of these sliding-door panels once adorned a room in an elite residence, providing an illusion of a view toward a scenic landscape of a pine grove growing along a shoreline. For large-scale paintings like these, gold leaf depicts clouds, mist, and hills. In their original architectural settings, the gold created subtle, transient reflections.