A Rare 17th-Century Masterwork Unfolds
6th November 2025-
A rare and impressive 17th-century Japanese byōbu, a six-fold paper screen, attributed to the School of Geiai (Lot 906)
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A musk cat seated among the many birds, an unusual motif seldom found in screens of the period
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The Ivy, Chippenham, built in 1728 for a lawyer and local MP named John Norris then purchased by Alexander Beaumont Rooke (1821-1914) in 1869, including its contents.
Japanese folding screens, or byōbu (literally “to block wind”), were originally constructed to divide interior spaces. Often monumental in scale and sumptuously decorated, they were created by some of Japan’s greatest artists and are thought to have first appeared during the Nara period (7th - 8th century).
Initially introduced to Japan from China, folding screens were displayed during ceremonies and events at the Imperial household. Their use spread among the upper classes during the Heian period (794 - 1185) when zenigata (circular metal hinges) were introduced to connect the individual panels. By the Muromachi period (1336 - 1573), byōbu were found in the homes of merchants and samurai, where ownership symbolised wealth and social standing.
Rare and Charming Subject
Included in the upcoming Japanese Works of Art Sale on 13th November is a rare and impressive 17th-century Japanese byōbu attributed to the School of Geiai (Lot 906). The six-fold paper screen is rich in quirky and charming details including; a quail dust-bathing, a curious praying mantis and a sun-basking lizard perched on a rock. Most unusually, it features a musk cat seated among the many birds, a motif seldom seen in paintings of the period.
Mysterious Artist
Paintings attributed to Geiai and his followers often display the boneless painting method, in which forms are created without outlines. This technique is evident in several areas of the present screen, notably in the cavorting sparrows at the lower left corner. These sparrows appear in identical positions in two other paintings attributed to Geiai, one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the other in the Mary Griggs Burke Collection, donated to the Minneapolis Institute of Art in 2015.
Notable Provenance
In 1869, Alexander Beaumont Rooke (1821–1914) purchased The Ivy, a magnificent 18th-century Grade I listed manor house in Chippenham, along with its contents, which could well have included the screen. The estate remained in the Rooke family for several generations until its sale in 2013 before being relocated to the family’s new residence in Wiltshire.
Director and Asian and Japanese Works of Art Specialist, Alexandra Aguilar, said; “It is incredibly rare to see screens from the School of Geiai come up for sale at auction and it has been fascinating to research and catalogue this wonderful example.”
Grand in scale (measuring 180cm x 362cm), this impressive screen sold for £17,780 (including auction fees) in the Japanese Works of Art sale on 13th November 2025.
