Pomegranates and Grapes

Pomegranates and grapes hang heavy with fruit in this 1879–81 nishiki-e still life, the two fruits rendered with the botanical precision of a natural history illustration while the composition as a whole follows the decorative convention of hanging-scroll kacho-e. Kiyochika's still lifes are relatively rare in his catalogue, and this one demonstrates the Western naturalistic influence on his rendering of botanical subjects — the fruits modelled with light and shadow rather than outlined with the flat clarity of traditional Japanese painting.