Such depictions of the God of Thunder originated in Buddhist art. Here, the image was painted on paper covered with gold dust, a technique often found in paintings by Tawaraya Sotatsu or of the Sotatsu school. This gold technique and the "Inen" seal here suggest that the anonymous painter of this screen was probably associated with the Sotatsu workshop. The artist used a prototype borrowed from earlier Japanese narrative painting—rather than mechanically reproducing Sotatsu’s image—and created a bold, innovative image that served the world of play and leisure in early Edo Japan.
The theme of "God of Thunder" was often paired with "God of Wind" and has been frequently reinterpreted by generations of Rimpa artists. Unfortunately, the screen God of Wind which would have accompanied this God of Thunder cannot be located.
Date
mid-1600s
Medium
Six-panel folding screen, ink, color and gold on paper
Dimensions
Image: 150.4 x 343 cm (59 3/16 x 135 1/16 in.); Overall: 162.4 x 355.8 cm (63 15/16 x 140 1/16 in.); Panel: 162.4 x 59.2 cm (63 15/16 x 23 5/16 in.); with frame: 165.6 x 358.6 cm (65 3/16 x 141 3/16 in.)
The person who associated a work with this deed has dedicated the work to the public domain by waiving all of their rights to the work worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law. You can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.
http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.enCC0Creative Commons Zero, Public Domain Dedicationfalsefalse