Sophie Pulvers "Hawk, after Ohara Koson"
$3,800.00
Acrylic on linen, 83x83cm.
Falconry and hawking as a past time amongst the aristocracy and powerful have a very long history in Japan. But with the establishment of the Tokugawa government at the beginning of the seventeenth century, this past time became regulated.
It was favoured by the shogun and senior members of the samurai class. Particularly the first shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu, was famous for his love of falconry. Under his rule many artworks depicting hawks and other birds of prey were commissioned as decorations for the homes of the powerful. The hawk symbolises strength, power and authority with its free mastery of the skies.
