Pair of byobu or folding screens in six panels, painted on silk in mineral pigments, gofun or clam shell gesso, and sumi ink, with a scene of the full moon in glowing clouds above waves breaking on a rock, with seven plovers flying over the sea and gnarled pines receding on the beach to the right. Signed on the lower left corner of the left-hand screen by the artist: Keinen Sha or Painted by Keinen, and sealed twice: Ryoji Rakui or For the Time Being, I am Seated at Ease, and below this: Keinen Gashi or Painted by Keinen; and again signed on the lower right corner of the right-hand screen: Keinen Gashi or Painted by Keinen, and sealed twice: Ryoji Rakui and below this: Keinen Gashi (Imao Keinen, 1845 – 1924). Late Meiji – Taisho era, circa 1900 – 1920.

Born in Kyoto, Imao Keinen first studied under the Ukiyo-e style painter Umegawa Tokyo in 1854. Three years later he joined the studio of the Shijo-Maruyama School artist Suzuki Hyakunen. At the same time he worked in the creation of Yuzen dyeing textile designs. In 1875 his work won a certificate of commendation at the Kyoto Exposition, also gathering bronze medals in 1879 and 1880. In 1880 Keinen enrolled at the Kyoto-fu Ga-gakko (Kyoto Prefectural Painting School). In 1882 and 1884 he won bronze prizes at the 1st and 2nd Naikoku Kaiga Kyoshinkai (Domestic Painting Competitive Exhibition). In 1893 at the Chicago Columbian Exposition his work won an honorable mention. Then in 1895 his work won second place for technical skill at the Kokunai Kangyo Hakurankai (National Industrial Exposition). In 1896 he participated in the reorganization of the Jounsha artistic association in Kyoto (one of the city’s most prestigious), into the Koso Kyokai and was named a committee member. Keinen won a silver medal in 1900 at the Paris Exposition for his work Oboro-zuki-yo Kamo (Duck Beneath a Hazy, Spring Moon). In 1904 he won a gold medal at the Saint Louis Exposition. That same year Keinen was appointed a Teishitsu Gigeiin or Imperial Court Artist. Keinen served as a judge for the Bunten with its inception in 1907. In 1909 he was commissioned to paint a dragon on the reconstructed Hatto (dharma lecture hall) of Nanzenji in Kyoto. In 1910 he exhibited at the 4th Bunten and in 1911 won second place at the Italian Exposition. In 1912 he participated in the 6th Bunten, and the following year retired from his position as a Bunten judge and became a member of the Teikoku Bijutsuin (The Imperial Academy of Fine Arts). Keinen’s exquisitely delicate kachoga or bird-and-flower paintings received high acclaim overseas as well as within Japan. Keinen passed away in Kyoto at the age of 79 on October 5, 1924.

Imao Keinen’s paintings are in the collections of the Ashmolean Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Tokyo National Museum, and the Yamatane Museum of Art.