Flowering plants by a flowing waterfall

This pair of screens depicts a landscape with streams, a waterfall, trees, and other plants against a sumptuous gold background. In the right screen appear flowering azaleas, bamboo grasses, and a young bamboo, all suggesting spring and summer. In the left screen, a maple tree, a pomegranate tree bearing fully ripe fruit, a bellflower, and other plants suggest fall and winter. Watanabe Shiko was a noted painter of the Rinpa school, which is known for its refined decorative style. Shiko was a machi-eshi, or “town painter,” working for a privately owned painting studio that produced hanging scrolls and folding screens for local, wealthy patrons.