Picture Album of Birds and Flowers (Seitei Kachō gafu) : [volume 3]

Watanabe, Seitei, 1851-1918 · 1891 · Tokyo: Ōkura Magobei 大倉孫兵衛 · 4 pictures

A Meiji-era Japanese picture album of birds and flowers by Watanabe Seitei, published in Tokyo in 1891 by Ōkura Magobei, presented as a bound volume of double-page paintings for artists and students. The pages show ink and light colour sketches of snow-laden bamboo with a crow, hens with red combs, pigeons beside autumn maple leaves, and blue flowers beside long green leaves, with generous empty paper and small red seal stamps. A designer could take the economical brushwork, the use of blank space as a setting, and the restrained palette of grey-green, cream and red accents.

Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art · No known copyright restrictions · More from this library