Clematis No. 3

Clematis (tessen, 'iron wire') takes its Japanese name from the slender, tough climbing stems that support its star-shaped flowers. As the third in Sugiura's series devoted to this subject, the print likely centers on a single bloom or a cluster of two or three, foregrounding the radial geometry of the six or eight tepals and the prominent central tuft of stamens. Tessen is an unusual subject in classical [kacho-e](/glossary/kacho-e), appearing more often in tea-ceremony chabana arrangements than in the Edo woodblock canon, which gives Sugiura's treatment of it a quietly distinctive place in the modern flower-print tradition. The composition typical of this artist combines a refined contour line with broad flat color areas and surface texturing that lends the petals a tactile, near-papery quality. The work exemplifies his commitment to extended thematic series — Clematis, Cosmos, Iris, Peony — each interrogating a single botanical motif across multiple compositions, isolating it against neutral grounds in the manner of a contemplative still life.