Pair of byobu or folding screens in two panels, painted on silk in gofun or clam shell gesso, sumi ink, and mineral pigments with a summer scene of swimming geese and water lilies. Signed on the right lower side of the right-hand screen: Koyo and sealed (Ishizaki Koyo, 1884 – 1947). Taisho era, circa 1916 – 1926.

Born in 1884, the fifth son of a wealthy merchant family in Toyama Prefecture, Ishizaki Koyo began to study painting under the Rimpa painter Yamamoto Koichi in 1896. In 1903, he moved to Kyoto to become a pupil of Takeuchi Seiho. In 1904, he was first accepted into the 9th Shin Kobijutsu-ten, a venue to which he returned in 1905 and 1912. In 1912, he was also accepted into the government-sponsored 6th Bunten. He showed at every subsequent Bunten with the exception of the 11th in 1917, and his 1914 paintings were purchased by the Imperial Household Agency for the Imperial Collections. In 1916, he traveled in India. In 1919, he exhibited at the 1st Teiten where he won the tokusen or grand prize and was awarded mukansa or non-vetted status. Afterwards he continued to exhibit almost every year at the Teiten, becoming a judge for the exhibition in 1922. He traveled in Europe that same year, taking a special interest in the frescos in Italy and in Avignon. In 1925, he was appointed an assistant professor at the Kyoto Municipal Special School of Painting, where in 1936 he became a full professor. He visited India again in 1933 and climbed the Himalayas. He exhibited at the 1st – 3rd Shin-Bunten in 1937 – 1939, at the Hoshukuten in 1940, and at the 5th and 6th Shin-Bunten in 1942 and 1943. Ishizaki Koyo suffered a stroke in 1944 and died on March 25th, 1947.

His work is in the collections of the Kyoto City Art Museum, the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo and the Fukumitsu Art Museum.

Ishizaki Koyo paints this lyrical scene with a luminous naturalism, conveying perfectly the slow movement of the geese and the play of summer sun and shade on the water. The bold composition focuses on a diagonal running from the group of five birds in the right screen towards the two swimming ahead in the left. A scatter of water lily leaves and blossoms visually connects the images and unifies the scene. Koyo works with a soft color palette and a delicate gradation of colors. The fluffy treatment of the feathers and crisp contours of the water plants balance the abstract reflections rippling the surface of the water.