2-741-570 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Sparrows and Bamboo, mid- to late 1500s. Shiken Seido, whose style name was Zean, was a Zen monk who trained at Shokokuji temple in Kyoto, and designed the garden of Reiun’in at Myoshinji temple. He painted landscapes in the style of painter and art advisor to the shogun, Soami (died 1525), as well as bird-and-flower compositions. A poetic inscription by the monk Ekkei Reikaku accompanies this gentle composition of two sparrows perched on bamboo.