Rimpa school, "Autumn Flowers and Moon," Sakai Hoitsu, (1761-1828), Japanese
Rimpa (琳派), also romanized as Rinpa, is one of the major historical schools of Japanese decorative painting. It was created in the 17th century by the artists Hon'ami Kōetsu (1558-1637) and Tawaraya Sōtatsu (d. c. 1643). Roughly fifty years later, the style was consolidated by brothers Ōgata Kōrin and Kenzan.
Both founding artists already came from families of cultural significance; Kōetsu was one of a family of swordsmiths who had served the imperial court and the great contemporary warlords, Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, in addition to social ties to the Ashikaga shoguns. Kōetsu’s father connoisseured swords for the Maeda lords, and Kōetsu himself continued this arrangement with the Maeda, alongside a similar occupation concerning art; he came to know other veterans in the subject. Consequently, he was less concerned with swords as opposed to painting, calligraphy lacquerwork and the Way of Tea (he created several Raku Ware tea bowls.) His own painting style reflected his prowess in Japan’s artistic past, recalling the flamboyant aristocratic genre of the Heian period.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rimpa_school
