Almost lifesize peafowl are shown in a garden landscape. The glamorous males show off their spectacular tailfeathers. These sweeping diagonals are echoed by the trunk of an old tree on the right, and the stream on the left screen. The filigree of the tailfeathers is rendered with attention to detail and accuracy.
Ganku was from Kaga (modern Kanazawa Prefecture), had some training with a Kano-school artist, and in 1779, moved to Kyoto. Beginning in 1788, the artist began to travel frequently for commissions. The screens shown were likely painted at that time for the head of the Ii clan in Hikone. They would have been displayed in Hikone Castle, where the ink on sumptuous gold ground would have illuminated the dark interior. Ganku became well known for his paintings of peafowl. Over the course of his long career, he founded the Kishi school of painting.