Picture Album of Birds and Flowers (Seitei Kachō gafu) : [volume 2]

Watanabe, Seitei, 1851-1918 · 1890 · Tokyo: Ōkura Magobei 大倉孫兵衛 · 4 pictures

A Meiji-period Japanese picture album of birds and flowers by Watanabe Seitei, published in Tokyo in 1890 by Ōkura Magobei for a general audience of artists and collectors. Its pages show cranes, bamboo, and a mouse beside lotus and chestnut motifs, drawn in sparse ink outlines with pale grey wash on cream paper. A designer could borrow the economical line work, the open negative space around single subjects, and the restrained grey-green palette.

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