print
- Museum number
- 1910,0614,0.20
- Title
- Object: Jakuyaku kanaari 芍薬カナアリ (Herbaceous peony and canary)
- Description
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Colour woodblock print. Herbaceous peony and canary with Chinese poem.
- Production date
- 1834 (circa)
- Dimensions
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Height: 25.40 centimetres
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Width: 18.60 centimetres
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
- Clark 2017
As with ‘Weeping cherry and bullfinch’ from the same series (cat. 91), the background of solid Prussian blue sets in relief the featured bird and flower. Hokusai is known to have depicted a herbaceous peony on only one other occasion, in volume 3 of Hokusai’s Sketches (Hokusai manga, 1815). In this print, he shows the flowers from various viewpoints, lending variety to the design. Hokusai discussed his methods of drawing and colouring canaries twice in his painting manual, Essence of Colouring (1848, cat. 211). Inscribed at top right are the first two lines from a Chinese poem on the herbaceous peony by the Song dynasty politician and scholar Wang Shipeng (1112–1171), whose writings are collected in the Plum Creek Collection (Meiqiji): ‘The many-leaved Yangzhou variety / at spring’s height reigns supreme over the multitude of aromas.’
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
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Exhibited:
2017 25 May - 2 July, London, BM, G35, Hokusai: Beyond the Great Wave
2017 6 Oct - 19 Nov, Osaka, Abeno Harukas Art Museum
2022 16 Apr-12 Jun, Tokyo, Suntory Museum of Art, Hokusai from the British Museum
- Acquisition date
- 1910
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- 1910,0614,0.20
