Kingfisher and Irises

A kingfisher drops toward blue irises rising from the water's edge, its dive barely begun. Kingfisher and iris is a classic summer pairing — jewel-bird over sword-leaf — and Hiroshige returned to the subject more than once; this is it at its cleanest. Bird and flower share one palette — the kingfisher's back and the iris petals are the same blues, as if the bird had risen out of the flowers. "The bird and the flower wear one color. Summer made them both."

Maker

Utagawa Hiroshige

Date

c. 1830s

Medium of the original

Woodblock print; ink and color on paper

Rights

Cleared for print

Catalogue number

PA-00379