Chinese woman and plum

A Chinese woman depicted alongside plum blossoms — a subject that draws on the East Asian tradition of "mei ren" (beautiful person) painting in its Chinese mode. The plum (ume) blooms in late winter, making it one of the first harbingers of spring and an emblem of perseverance and purity in both Chinese and Japanese aesthetic traditions. Hanko's Chinese woman in this context would be dressed in the distinctive Han Chinese robes and hairstyles that Japanese artists used to signal continental cultural reference, contrasted with the rigorous Japanese treatment of the plum blossoms.