Cypress Trees

A single ancient cypress with a massive, muscular trunk sprawls across a folding screen, its branches thrusting against a ground of solid gold leaf and pools of malachite-blue water and rock. Kanō Eitoku led the Kanō school at the height of its power, decorating the castles of the warlords Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and this screen (originally sliding-door panels) is the supreme surviving example of his bold, large-scale manner. Its monumental forms and gleaming gold embody the confident, theatrical taste of the Azuchi–Momoyama period. Designated a National Treasure, it is held at the Tokyo National Museum.