The work is currently housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, as part of the Mary Griggs Burke Collection. It entered the Met in 2015 as a gift from the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation and is recorded under accession number 2015.300.68a–b. The Met currently lists the work as not on view.
Pheasants among Trees: Flowers of the Four Seasons, possibly made in the 1560s, consists of two hanging scrolls made in ink, colour and gold on paper. The picture on display here is one side of this double scroll. The two scrolls are designed to be read in sequence, right to left, forming a continuous seasonal world, in which nature is a silent stage for the pheasants.
The viewer is immediately captivated with the vertical format and close-up nature of the composition. The top section features a large, twisted tree with a dark, rugged trunk that stands out against the lighter background.At the top, there is a large, twisted tree with a dark, rugged trunk that stands out against the lighter background. It has spreading branches with green leaves and small flowers, and the bottom of the rocky riverbank is filled with grasses and shrubs. The pheasant is the subject of the painting, and is prominently displayed in the vegetation. The delicate colour and fine detailing of its body lend it an almost luminous presence, while the touches of gold in its plumage highlight its features. Pheasants were not only worn for decoration but also had an imperial connotation, and were commonly associated with Amaterasu, giving them symbolic significance as well as their natural qualities.
The interest of the painting is that Shōei combines his observation of nature with meticulous symbolism. The flowers and plants are not just for decoration: the pair signifies the four seasons. The right scroll draws in spring dandelion and violet, summer azalea, and autumn and winter trees and fruits, such as loquat, drying reeds and red-berried spear flowers.
Stylistically it falls into the category of Shōei's position in the Kano school, in which he was influenced by those of his father Kano Motonobu, but also moves towards the larger and more dramatic compositions that would come to be typical of Momoyama Kano painting. Seasonality, symbolism, and a delicate decorative quality combine to make an otherwise tranquil garden scene much more dynamic than it meets the eye.
The picture portrays the harmony and continuous cycle of nature through the seasons. The pheasant is symbolic of beauty and significance to the emperor. The selected plants and flowers are an expression of the changes in the season. This shows the harmony created by combining observation and symbolism of life and renewal.
