The butterfly grown old, Its spirit plays Among chrysanthemums.

By Enomoto Seifu (1732-1815)

Chrysanthemums have been cultivated in their native China for thousands of years. The roots, leaves and flowers were used in herbal remedies for sore eyes, liver complaints, fevers, headaches and even deafness. The plant arrived in Japan around the eighth century, and it quickly became a favourite among the nobility, featuring in poems and paintings as well as in competitions for the most elegant bloom. Over the centuries, Oriental gardeners produced outstanding varieties: from massive globular blooms to eerie, spider like forms with long, thin petals. In the 1790s, some modest chrysanthemums arrived at Kew Gardens in England and, once again, they had an enthusiastic welcome -- so much so that the great Swedish botanist and taxonomist Karl Linnaeus (1707-78) named the plant after the Greek chrusos and anthemion, meaning "gold flower." Nowadays, they are the most popular pot plant in America, and every country has its specialist chrysanthemum club. The plants are very sensitive to the changing seasons. They only flower after the summer solstice, and many varieties need long hours of darkness before they will begin to produce buds. However, once they have started, many will flower right into winter and until frost withers the stems.

Poem written by the artist Kôun, Yamada 耕雲 山田 (1907 - 1989) A lovely scroll painted in the kachō-ga., flowers and birds study style With antique Kimono silk covered box £190   Painted by the well respected Chinese artist KOUN. Pair of birds on Kiku Chrysanthemums in 1970. 69.2x24.7 inches With Box £190 About this style of painting: When I was around 12, some 50 years ago, my father sold furniture to most of the stores across Scotland. It was he who introduced me  to Chinese Painting as he frequently imported lovely silk framed paintings which he also sold to some of his furniture buyers for display in their stores and of course would be bought by their customers. I remembered that he liked his kind of painting and these were, indeed, the most popular. I learned Chinese Painting from a visiting artist who came to a large department store group in the UK during the 1960's and I was working for that group. The artists taught me the basics of Chinese style painting from the Nanjing Area and I tried to keep my sense of colour in that manner when painting birds or animals, trees or landscapes.  in the oriental style. Over the years I came to the conclusion that I was better buying other painters work as these were invariably better than some of my own daubing.. However, it did give me a deep sense of understanding and my journey into Japanese art came after my introduction to Chinese Art. As a sideline I also studied the Chinese Opera makeup in mainly the Canton and Peking operas. I also studied for a short time with the official Peking Opera (Now Beijing Opera) when they came to London. Albeit I was amongst a number of makeup artists who were interested in this unique Chinese Form. I subsequently  lectured at many events on the history of Chinese Opera and taught many other make up artists the various forms from the five regions of China and went on to study Noh Drama make up after this.  That took me to being a professional makeup artist for a number of years and authoring a best selling book on the subject.  Craig Coussins

Bird on Kiku-Crysanthemum 1900 72.9x23.8 £195 Painted by Daiu A very lovely scroll completely remounted with its own box

KIKU Chrysanthemum Hankyu/ Hanko 1950.56x22 with Box £175

The reference I have is of Okada Hanko. (Okada, Shuku-azana: Shiu;go:Hanko, 1782-1846) Okada Beisanjin's son born in Osaka. Like his father he worked for the large Todo Family of Rice Merchants. He also painted in the Bunjinga (Nanga-literati) style but he had a wide range of talents and subjects that he painted.

Wako KIKU  Tall Chrysanthemum.77x24

Miyake Wako

Born in 1939 (14th year of Showa) in Gifu Prefecture. The artist learned painting from his father who was also a professional Japanese painter. The artist was known to have done kacho-ga (bird and flower), landscapes,
and images of people. However regardless of what Wako painted they all received high remarks.
A former member of the Bokujinkai and now independent. 

This is a very detailed view on an elegant background of Japans national flower. The detail in the flower is outstanding. This is a true example of excellence in Japanese Art.
 

£395 with its own silk covered box.

Generally gallery prices for Wako are 600-1000 USD