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Japanese Two-Panel Screen: Tropical Paradise with a White Cockatoo

Dating to circa 1880, this vibrant two-panel screen depicts a striking white cockatoo perched among ripening pomegranates and broad banana leaves, while Japanese blue tits animate the foreground in pursuit of a spider. Executed in mineral pigments with delicate gold dust on paper, the composition combines meticulous natural observation with an imaginative arrangement of exotic and native flora and fauna. During the late nineteenth century, Japanese artists increasingly embraced unusual botanical and avian subjects inspired by expanding global exchange, while continuing to render them with the refined brushwork and decorative elegance characteristic of traditional screen painting. Bearing a signature and seal reading Hōnen-ga, the screen is finished with a silk brocade border and black lacquer trim.