Daisy #3

The third in a numbered sequence of daisy studies, this color etching isolates the flower against a relatively bare ground, treating the bloom as a discrete subject in the manner of a kacho-e botanical study. As a color intaglio, the plate was inked either à la poupée—colors hand-applied to separate areas with rolled cotton dabbers—or printed from multiple plates registered in sequence, allowing Hansen to differentiate petal from stem and disc with controlled pigment placement. The bitten line work carries the drawing while aquatint or open-bite passages provide tone. The numbered sequence indicates a deliberate variational practice, with each impression testing a different color register, viewpoint, or compositional weighting of the same species. The approach parallels the late kacho-e of artists such as Ohara Koson, who returned repeatedly to a single botanical subject under shifting palettes and seasonal conditions.