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Warbler and Roses (Kôchô, bara), from an untitled series known as Small Flowers


中判花鳥 「黄鳥 長春」
Katsushika Hokusai (Japanese, 1760–1849)
Japanese
Edo period
about 1834 (Tenpô 5)

Medium/Technique Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper
Dimensions Vertical chûban; 25.7 x 18.5 cm (10 1/8 x 7 5/16 in.)
Credit Line William Sturgis Bigelow Collection
Accession Number11.17616
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsPrints

Catalogue Raisonné Clark et al, Hokusai: Beyond ... (2017), #95; TNM, Hokusai (2005), #376; Ukiyo-e shûka 16 (1981), p. 227, vertical chûban #22.05
DescriptionMFA impressions: 11.17616 (2nd ed.), 11.25141, 21.10223, 21.10225 (right)

Kôchô, literally "yellow bird," is an alternate name for uguisu "warbler."
Poem translated in Clark et al, Hokusai: Beyond the Great Wave (2017), p. 179.
Signed Saki no Hokusai Iitsu hitsu
前北斎為一筆
Marks Censor's seal: kiwame
改印:極
InscriptionsHaikai poem by Shoso Otsuni (1756-1823): Hara no hana/ chirinuru ori ka/ oka no ie
「はらの花 ちりぬる折か 岡の家 乙二」
ProvenanceBy 1911, purchased by William Sturgis Bigelow (b. 1850 - d. 1926), Boston [see note 1]; 1911, gift of Bigelow to the MFA. (Accession Date: August 3, 1911)

NOTES:
[1] Much of Bigelow's collection of Asian art was formed during his residence in Japan between 1882 and 1889, although he also made acquisitions in Europe and the United States. Bigelow deposited many of these objects at the MFA in 1890 before donating them to the Museum's collection at later dates.