酒井抱一筆　桜図屏風, Blossoming Cherry Trees, Edo period (1615?1868), ca. 1805, Japan, Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink, color, and gold leaf on paper, Image: 38 x 82 3/16 in. (96. 5 x 208. 8 cm), Screens, Sakai Hōitsu (Japanese, 1761?1828), Paintings of cherry trees in isolation are surprisingly rare, considering they are the quintessential symbol of Japan. The cherry tree serves in literature and painting as an emblem of spring or an allusion to certain famous sites (meisho) such as Yoshino, near Nara