Peony No 14

The fourteenth entry in Sugiura Kazutoshi's peony series (botan) brings the same sustained attention he devoted to his iris compositions to a flower with equally deep roots in Japanese aesthetics — the peony has been associated with wealth, honor, and the emperor since its introduction from China during the Nara period. Where irises suggest the spare elegance of summer marshes, peonies offer a fullness and luxuriance that Sugiura's layered printing technique renders with particular richness: the multiple overlapping petals become an occasion for chromatic layering that mirrors the flower's own physical complexity.