Mandarin Ducks in Snow is an undated [shin-hanga](/glossary/shin-hanga) [kacho-e](/glossary/kacho-e) (bird-and-flower print) by Ohara Koson, signed Shoson, and a textbook example of one of the most enduring subjects in Japanese bird-and-flower painting. The image is preserved through the [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e).org image database. Mandarin ducks (oshidori) appear pair-bonded in classical Japanese imagery as a symbol of marital fidelity and seasonal harmony, and depictions of a male and female mandarin together, especially in winter, have a deep tradition in Kano-school and Rinpa-school painting that Koson would have known intimately. Here the artist sets the pair on or near snow-covered ground or a snow-laden branch, the brilliantly colored drake providing the primary chromatic incident: bright orange sail feathers, white head bands, deep green crown, and patterned blue and chestnut markings, all rendered through layered impressions. The female is rendered more soberly in greys and browns. Surrounding snow is supplied partly through unprinted paper and partly through delicate [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradations, with the ground around the birds held to a quiet, near-uniform tone. As an Ohara Koson Shoson kacho-e, Mandarin Ducks in Snow exemplifies the shin-hanga movement's reconciliation of traditional Japanese symbolic bird-and-flower subjects with the refined production standards of the Watanabe Shozaburo workshop, aimed at an international collector base for which the mandarin-duck motif read clearly as both decorative and emblematic.
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Mandarin Ducks in Snow was created by Ohara Koson (小原古邨).
Mandarin Ducks in Snow depicts birds & flowers and winter.
