Roses in Art (For a Friend)

July 21, 2016 8:13 PM

[Question from a non-MeFi friend:]

I am looking for the name or term used to refer to a specific style/design of rose frequently depicted in Japanese and Chinese art.

It is a thick, lineless collection of crescents and wedges collected together, reminiscient of a crudely-made black-and-white woodcut. The Japanese often have it shown along with long, thorny vines, whereas the Chinese version seems to frequently feature just the blossom along with a few small green leaves (Neither of these rules are rigid or heavily consistent, but it does often seem to shake out this way).

Examples:
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Any help or light shed on this matter would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

posted by KChasm to Media & Arts (4 answers total)

Best answer: If i were looking for images like these, i would use the term stencil with rose.
posted by b33j at 12:04 AM on July 22, 2016 [1 favorite]

To me, these look more like the influence of art nouveau (and art deco) design (and woodcuts, tiles, textile patterns), rather than traditional Asian art style. Do a google image search on art nouveau rose and you will see some examples.
posted by gudrun at 6:59 AM on July 22, 2016 [1 favorite]

Best answer: They look a lot like Charles Rennie Mackintosh roses, to be even more specific.
posted by clew at 5:15 PM on July 22, 2016 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: [My friend has a follow-up:]

First, thank you both for your responses. The stencil one seems more like what I'm after than the art nouveau, but both search suggestions indeed turned up numerous relevant and similar images.

I'd like to mention that I never said they were part of a traditional Asian art style. What I was pointing was that you see it a lot in Japanese and Chinese art, and I would swear it's specifically done with roses much more often than any other flower to the point where the stenciled rose is a distinct and specific element/design on its own. Therefore, it made me wonder if there was a term used for it in Chinese or Japanese (or Korean?), and that's what I was asking about.

I might also be wrong on both counts. Even if I am, I've still got much more than I did yesterday, and I'm very grateful for that.

posted by KChasm at 6:36 PM on July 22, 2016