Japanese Silk Panels at Decatur House

Inside the Decatur House’s California Room hangs a series of remarkable nineteenth-century Japanese silk panels that depict the changing seasons. The paintings, created by Japanese artist Utagawa Kunitsuru, were signed by the artist in 1872. They came to Decatur House sometime between this signing date and their first mention in a Washington Capital newspaper article in late 1873, which noted that the upstairs drawing room boasted “French gray side walls with Japanese paneling and borders.”¹ The panels are currently hung in the kakemono-style, though originally displayed in the Decatur House as a wallpaper.² Each silk panel was glued and nailed to the wall and then framed with a printed decorative wallpaper border, which still exists on the walls today. Prior to their application to the wall, the panels were likely made to be hanging scrolls.