Tawaraya　俵屋

KEY WORD :　art history / painting

A painting shop *eya 絵屋 or atelier founded by Soutatsu 宗達 (?-1643?), who is thought to have been from the wealthy merchant class of Kyoto. Soutatsu also was one of the founders of the *Rinpa 琳派 painting school. Soutatsu enjoyed a good reputation in Kyoto in the early 17c and produced a broad range of popular works that were sold at the shop. These works included fans, screens, paper decorated with underpainting for calligraphy, shell painting, and stencils for dying textiles, as well as paintings known as Tawaraya pictures, tawaraya-e 俵屋絵. Many of these works still exist. The *Inen 伊年 seal used by Soutatsu was also used by many of his followers. Tawaraya is also the name used by Soutatsu's follower, Tawaraya Sousetsu 俵屋宗雪 (who was active in the mid-17c). Hired by the Maeda 前田 family in 1642 as an official painter, Sousetsu was moved from Kyoto to Kanazawa 金沢, where he probably established a workshop. Many screens of flowers and grasses that can still be found in the Kanazawa area are associated with this workshop. The key works of Sousetsu's career are the paired screens of "Chrysanthemum, Autumn Grasses" Akikusa-zu 秋草図 and "Dragon and Tiger" Ryuuko-zu 龍虎図. Sousetsu is thought to have died in 1644 and was probably succeeded by Kitagawa Sousetsu 喜多川相説 (active mid-17c). A large numbers of screens from this atelier were produced until the end of the Edo period .

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