A pair of mandarin ducks, c.1935

Mandarin ducks (oshidori) are among the most potent symbols of conjugal fidelity in East Asian art, their brilliantly colored plumage and lifelong pair-bonding making them a perennial subject for auspicious imagery. Koitsu renders the pair around 1935 with careful attention to the male's iridescent greens and chestnuts against the subtler brown of the female, likely set among lotus leaves or reeds at a pond's edge. The subject bridges his landscape practice and the broader tradition of Japanese bird-and-flower painting.