
Suzuki Kiitsu was an artist of the Rimpa school, which was sometimes called the “decorative school” of painting for its bold compositions and design sense. Rimpa artists took a significant interest in painting morning glories, which were bred in several varieties in the 19th century. Here, Kiitsu featured these flowers on an oversized fan pasted onto a screen. Although the creases in the fan suggest that it had been used before becoming part of this work, that may not have been the case. The artist could have creased the fan to allude to earlier similar compositions or simply to play with the subject.

Komurasaki of the Miuraya and Shirai Gompachi (Miuraya Komurasaki, Shirai Gompachi)
Kitagawa Utamaro 喜多川 歌麿 Japanese, c.1753-1806

Hamamatsu, from the series "Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido (Tokaido gojusan tsugi)," also known as the Tokaido with Poem (Kyoka iri Tokaido)
Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川 広重 Japanese, 1797-1858

Mitsuke: Ferries Crossing the Tenryu River (Mitsuke, Tenryugawa funawatashi), from the series "Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido (Tokaido gojusan tsugi)," also known as the Tokaido with Poem (Kyoka iri Tokaido)
Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川 広重 Japanese, 1797-1858