Kamisaka Sekka: White Phoenix Bookmark

Description

Kamisaka Sekka (Japanese, 1866–1942)
White phoenix on a pine tree (detail), c. 1920–1940

The phoenix, a symbol of peace and prosperity, is said to take the attributes of a variety of animals in its many elegant forms. Here it resembles a somewhat gawky swan. The artist tipped the creature’s iconic long tail feathers with peacock eyes and outlined the pine bough it sits atop with mottled washes of mineral color, creating the lichen by pooling green pigment on the wet surface.