Magpie with Pink and White Magnolia Blossoms

A single magpie with dark blue-black wings and tail, a black head, and a pale buff breast perches on a gray branch, its head tilted downward toward a large open pink magnolia blossom below. Above, white magnolia flowers and unopened maroon-brown buds fill the upper portion of the composition against a flat pale yellow-green background; the artist's signature and red seal appear in the lower right. Ohara Koson's 1931 woodblock print, in ōban format with ink and color on paper, balances the bird along a curving branch between the pink bloom below and white blossoms above.