Cherry Tree and Pheasant

Held in the Clarence Buckingham Collection at the Art Institute of Chicago (accession 1925.2147), Cherry Tree and Pheasant is a [chuban](/glossary/chuban)-format color woodblock print measuring 26 by 19.4 centimeters and dated to 1765, one of the foundational year of full-color [nishiki-e](/glossary/nishiki-e) production in Edo. The composition pairs a flowering cherry branch with a perched pheasant, a [kacho-e](/glossary/kacho-e) (bird-and-flower) subject that was a perennial favorite of the early nishiki-e generation and that allowed Hyakki and his printers to showcase the new technical precision of multi-block registration. The cherry blossom, signifier of spring and of evanescent beauty in Japanese poetic convention, is rendered in the soft pinks of the safflower-derived beni pigment, while the pheasant's plumage carries the full range of the polychrome palette that 1765 made possible.