Supporting museums Art we've helped buy The Flowers of the Four Seasons
The Flowers of the Four Seasons The Flowers of the Four Seasons
The Flowers of the Four Seasons The Flowers of the Four Seasons

© Ashmolean Museum

© Ashmolean Museum


The Flowers of the Four Seasons

Yokoyama Seiki

Art Funded
1992
Dimensions
168 x 750 cm
Vendor
Takashi Yanagi
A pair of screens depicting 'The Flowers of the Four Seasons'.

The sixfold screens are richly decorated with flowers, trees and birds in colours on a ground of gold leaf and illustrate how Shijo artists, like Seiki, captured the appearance of nature, whilst maintaining the traditional use of carefully structured composition and decorative gold background.

Provenance

Takashi Yanagi.

Ink & colour on gold leaf, mounted on paper stretched on wooden screens

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Art we’ve helped buy at Ashmolean Museum

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Trott's Lane & A Rose
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The Rissik Marshall Collection
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The Madonna of the Rosary with Saints
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The Journey to Emmaus
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The Infant St John the Baptist
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The Holderness Cross
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The Gemma Tiberiana (Cameo of the Glorification of Germanicus)
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The Game of Draughts
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The Forest Fire
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The Flowers of the Four Seasons
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The Exposition of Moses
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The Eve of Separation
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The Entombment of Christ
 Acquired 1997
The Early Ploughman & The Lonely Tower & Opening the Fold
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The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah
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The Creation of Eve
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The Costumes of China
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The Coronation of Henri IV of France
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The Choice of Hercules
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The Castle of Sant'Angelo, Rome & The Temple of Bacchus, Rome
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The Bull Fight
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The Brickyard
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The Birth of St John the Baptist
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The Arundel Homerus
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The Annoni-Visconti Marriage Bowl
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The Adoration of the Shepherds
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Tankard
 Acquired 2001
Swan Bowl, No.1
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Study of Two Hands holding a Cast of Drapery
 Acquired 1937
Study of Trees & Plant Study
 Acquired 1980
Study of Blossom
 Acquired 1940
Study of a Monk
 Acquired 1937
Study of a devout Spanish Girl
 Acquired 2002
Study for the Consecration of a Church
 Acquired 2000
Studio pottery
 Acquired 2002
Still Life of Flowers and Vegetables
 Acquired 1934
Still Life
 Acquired 1980
Statuette of Blaise Pascal
 Acquired 1986
Statue of an Athenian lady
 Acquired 1917
Statue of a nude youth
 Acquired 1976
Standing Figure of Vishnu
 Acquired 1996
Stamping Coinage in the Mint, Calcutta
 Acquired 1980
Spring
 Acquired 2012_Mahon
Sparrows and Fruiting Tree
 Acquired 2000
Some Old Master drawings
 Acquired 1940
Small Naked Portrait
 Acquired 1989
Skye
 Acquired 2002
Sketchbook - 'Drawings of B.W. 1928-1930 and S.M.'s Hands'
 Acquired 2003
Sketch for a ceiling decoration
 Acquired 1933
Silver cup
 Acquired 2002
Silver bowl
 Acquired 1964
Siena
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Shipping in a Breeze
 Acquired 2002
Sheet of figure studies
 Acquired 2002
Sheba and Solomon
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Shallow bowl
 Acquired 2003
Self Portrait
 Acquired 1997
Selection of 11 drawings
 Acquired 1940
Seated Shepherd with Cows and Sheep in a Landscape
 Acquired 2004
Seascape - 'Sailing ships entering a Harbour'
 Acquired 1935
Ruins in the Alban Hills
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Ruins and figures
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Rosamund and the Purple Jar (study)
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Rome seen through an arch of the Colosseum
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Roman relief portrait
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Rococo watch and case
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Road to Emmaus (studies) & The Woman of Samaria
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Richmond, Yorkshire & The Fishing Fleet
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Reclining woman with child
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Ramparts of Montreuil
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Ram from the Tirhaqa Temple, Kawa
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Pumas
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Proctor-Mosley ewer & basin
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Portrait of William Fermor
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Portrait of Thomas Balston
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Portrait of the Earl of Arundel
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Portrait of the Artist
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Portrait of Soldan Lawrence (verso: Girl's Head)
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Portrait of Sir Dudley Carleton
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Portrait of Sir Charles Frederick
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Portrait of Osbert Sitwell
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Portrait of Mary Thomas, the Artist's Second Wife
 Acquired 1979
Portrait of Mary Ellen Meredith
 Acquired 2003
Portrait of Maggi Hambling
 Acquired 2002
Portrait of Mademoiselle Claus
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Portrait of Lady Holland
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Portrait of John Guise
 Acquired 1981
Portrait of Giacomo Doria
 Acquired 2000
Portrait of George Drummond
 Acquired 1955
Portrait of Francis Douce
 Acquired 1999
Portrait of Francis Bacon
 Acquired 2002
Portrait of Francesco Mignarelli
 Acquired 1943
Portrait of Charles Robert Cockerell
 Acquired 1998
Portrait of an Elderly Man, aged 70
 Acquired 1979
Portrait of Alexandre Forest
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Portrait of a Young Woman, thought to be Rosa Spisani
 Acquired 1981
Portrait of a Young Man holding a Skull
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Portrait of a Young Man
 Acquired 1983
Portrait of a Sculptor
 Acquired 1952
Portrait of a Sculptor
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Portrait of a Lady wearing a black Mantilla
 Acquired 1935
Porcelain Tray
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Poor Folk & Studies of Dorelia with a baby and child
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Ponte d'Agosto, Rimini
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Pharmacy jar
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Perfume burner
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Pendant-seal: Winter/Garden Nymph protecting a flower
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Peggy Jean
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Paysage avec Pont, allee d'un Jardin
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Pair of six-fold screens: Flowers of the Four Seasons
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Pair of gold hair ornaments
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Pair of folding screens: Flowers of the Twelve Months
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Painting of a Bishop-Saint
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Ottoman velvet textile
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Ottoman candlestick
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Old Chelsea's Last Regatta
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Nature morte aux Sculptures en Porcelain
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Moving Visions Series no. 83 and Moving Visions 140919
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Marble altar
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Maiolica plate
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Maiolica jug
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Maiolica dish: The Departure of Ceyx
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Maiolica dish
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Maiolica Basin
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Maidens Pier, Ayrshire
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Lid of a Cordovan ivory box
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Letters from Burne-Jones to May and Daphne Gaskell. 1) Album of letter from EB-J to Mrs Gaskell, 2) Album of letters from EB-J to Mrs Gaskell I 3) Album of letters from EB-J to Mrs Gaskell II, 4) Album of illustrated letters from EB-J to Mrs Gaskell, 5) D
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Landscape with a river
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Landscape with a Horseman and Two Soldiers
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Landscape with a figure
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Landscape near Muiderberg
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Landscape in Wales & Mountainous River Landscape in Wales
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Landscape in the Roman Campagna
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Lake Piediluco, Umbria
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Lacquer writing set
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Jewelled brooch
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Japanese lacquer cabinet in Namban style
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Interior of East End of Norwich Cathedral & Ashtead Churchyard
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Intaglio of Isis and Serapis
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Imari porcelain
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Illustrations to the 'Divine Comedy' by Dante
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House near the Estuary of a River
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Horatius Cocles defending the Bridge
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Head of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius
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Head of Noneen (Head of a Girl)
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Head of an Old Man
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Head of a Woman in a Whimple Head-Dress
 Acquired 1972
Head of a Boy
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Hampstead Heath
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Group of works on paper
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Greystone
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Greenwich Park and the River
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Grange Bridge, Borrowdale, Cumberland
 Acquired 1936
Grain tower
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Gold pendant
 Acquired 1950
Glass plate with a view of SS Giovanni e Paolo, Venice
 Acquired 1997
Girls dressing
 Acquired 1947
Girl with a Hoe
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Girl Feeding Chickens
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Gilbert Cannan at his Mill
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Four albums of drawings
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Four Album Leaves
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Figure of Standing Parvati
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Farmyard at Princes Risborough
 Acquired 1929
Ewer & basin
 Acquired 1974
Etna from Taormina; Dawn & Boston Stump; Sunset
 Acquired 1929
Engraved dish
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Embroidered Islamic tunic
 Acquired 1998
Embroidered hanging: Musical Party in an Exotic Setting
 Acquired 1991
Eight prints 1936-74
 Acquired 2015
Early Medieval gold and garnet sword button
 Acquired 2012
Drawing of two cupids
 Acquired 1942
Drawing of three figures
 Acquired 1940
Design for an ornamental border
 Acquired 1992
Design for an engraved antique gem in an ornamental setting
 Acquired 2014
Design for All Souls Chapel
 Acquired 2002
Design for a monument to Pope Clement XI
 Acquired 2003
Death and the Girl (maiden)
 Acquired 1947
Dead Christ supported by an Angel
 Acquired 1958
Crucifixion, with the Virgin and Saint John
 Acquired 2011
Cows at Cookham
 Acquired 1968
Collision of Particles
 Acquired 2009
Collection of twenty-five drawings
 Acquired 1970
Collection of silver plate
 Acquired 1947
Collection of silver
 Acquired 1946
Collection of prints
 Acquired 1946
Collection of Portrait Engravings
 Acquired 1951
Collection of miniature cups, teabowls and saucers
 Acquired 2009
Collection of gold boxes
 Acquired 1960
Collection of furniture
 Acquired 1967
Collection of drawings, prints and sketchbooks
 Acquired 2009
Collection of drawings
 Acquired 1943
Collection of British Studio Pottery
 Acquired 2004
Collection of 82 prints and 33 sketchbooks
 Acquired 1995
Collection of 6 Indian sculptures and a painting
 Acquired 1961
Collection of 18 Japanese wooden, bronze and ceramic decorative objects
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Collection of 14 coins
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Coast Scene with Fisherfolk gathering Seaweed
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Christian descending into the Valley of Humiliation
 Acquired 1929
Christ Church College, Oxford
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Christ Carrying the Cross
 Acquired 1955
Christ and the Woman of Samaria
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Chintz hanging from the Coromandel Coast
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Chinese ritual vessel
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Chalgrove II Hoard
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Ceiling Sketch for Mannheim Castle
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Cattle and Haystack, Twilight & Essex Fields
 Acquired 1929
Catching the Steamer
 Acquired 1947
Castle Crag, Derwentwater
 Acquired 1923
Capriccio Landscape with Figures, a Bridge over a Stream
 Acquired 1989
Calm Contortion Wine Cooler
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Caitya sculpture
 Acquired 1999
Bust of Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel
 Acquired 1987
Bust of Marie de Medicis
 Acquired 2000
Bust of Edward Salter, aged six
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Bust of a Cardinal
 Acquired 1959
Bramerton Hills near Norwich
 Acquired 1927
Bouquet de Roses dans un Vase
 Acquired 1989
Boswood's Thigh and the Right Arm of Michelangelo's David
 Acquired 2002
Boar's Head Tureen
 Acquired 2006
Berck, Cloudy Landscape
 Acquired 1989
Bell salt
 Acquired 2005
Basin with the arms of Spannocchi
 Acquired 2004
Attendant bodhisattva
 Acquired 1999
Assyrian relief
 Acquired 1933
Apples in a Bag
 Acquired 1968
Animals and birds in a landscape
 Acquired 1953
Anglo-Saxon bowl
 Acquired 1977
Angelica encountering the wounded Medoro
 Acquired 2012_Mahon
An Exhibition at the Old Town Hall, Oxford
 Acquired 2004
An Allegory of Life and Death (study)
 Acquired 1937
An Allegory of Justice and Vanity
 Acquired 1939
Album of portrait drawings
 Acquired 1992
Album of drawings
 Acquired 2002
Abraham and Hagar Surprised by Sarah
 Acquired 1997
A Wooded Valley, Painswick & Old Water Mill, Bridgenorth
 Acquired 1931
A View of Southampton water
 Acquired 1963
A view of Golding, Constable's House at East Bergholt
 Acquired 1925
A View of Culzean Castle, Ayshire
 Acquired 1963
A Study of Henry Irving as Becket
 Acquired 1968
A Seated Bodhisattva
 Acquired 1983
A Ruined House
 Acquired 1931
A Portrait of Mrs Fuseli
 Acquired 1938
A November Rainbow, Dolwyddalen Valley; November 11th, 1866, 1pm
 Acquired 1922
A Mourning Knight
 Acquired 1964
A Man leading a Horse
 Acquired 1937
A Highland Scene - 'In Connernara'
 Acquired 1935
A Head of a Woman
 Acquired 1981
A Farmyard with a Well
 Acquired 1939
A collection of Japanese metalwork sword fittings
 Acquired 1997
A Beach Scene with Fisherfolk
 Acquired 1963
9th century seated Buddha
 Acquired 1997
21 pieces of Meiji ceramics
 Acquired 2014
10 landscape drawings
 Acquired 1925
1) Two studies of a Nymph (ceiling figure); 2) Head of a Cherub
 Acquired 2009
1) Qing Bai shallow dish; 2) Fujian ware bowl; 3) Qing Bai small footed cup
 Acquired 2010
1) Figure on horseback; 2) Delacroix letter
 Acquired 2008
1) Coastal scene with coach and retinue; 2) Coastal scene with ship aground
 Acquired 2009
1) Coast Scene; 2) Scene on a Rocky Coast
 Acquired 1931

Nominally inspired by Lucretius' De rerum natura, Piero di Cosimo's The Forest Fire takes its scientific subject and embellishes it with fantastical creatures from the artist's imagination: Bulls, bears, lions and deer-like creatures with human faces all flee wearily from a fire.

Rubens' portrait of Thomas Howard, 2nd Earl of Arundel dates from about 1629. The Earl was a great collector, and Rubens had painted the earl's wife a few years earlier on a visit to Antwerp. This drawing in pen and ink with a chalk base is unusually informal, reflecting perhaps the comfortable relationship between artist and patron.

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