↗Japan, Edo period (1615–1868) · late 1790s
Cherry Blossoms in the Wind
Utagawa Toyokuni
ARTWORK STUDY
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Read the artwork notes and catalogue information.The Museum of the Imperial Collections, Sannomaru Shozokan · Catalogue source ↗ · Image policy ↗
China · 1343
Orchids and Bamboo
- Date
- 1343
- Medium
- Four hanging scrolls; ink and light colour on silk
- Dimensions
- Not listed in the source consulted
- Country / context
- China
- Movement / tradition
- Chinese painting
- Collection
- The Museum of the Imperial Collections, Sannomaru Shozokan
- Attribution / role
- Museum attribution
- Pathway
- Chinese painting ↗
ABOUT THIS WORK
The imperial collection records four scrolls of orchids and bamboo dated 1343, in ink and light colour on silk. The set provides a dated comparison for Puming’s less securely dated works transmitted to Japan.
Original educational overview · based on the linked museum recordPlace in the artist’s career
Compare the wind-bent bamboo with the Kyoto orchids and rock and the dated 1343 orchids-and-bamboo entry. The brush can suggest leaves, resilience and movement without a broad palette. Only one example supplies a precise year; the museum and exhibition records do not justify assigning the others to invented early or late phases.
The artist’s practice
Artist-wide context; individual works may differ.
Media and surface
Ink painting makes brush loading and the support central to leaf and stem effects.
Marks and structure
Flexible leaf strokes and firm stems connect botanical observation with calligraphic movement.
Palette and light
A narrow ink palette creates variety through dilution, density and open space, not bright pigment.
A MOMENT TO LOOK
Start with what you can see: shapes, surface, colour and scale. How might the listed materials affect the way this object was made and experienced?
Looking prompt · an invitation to observe, not a historical interpretation.
