White heron and iris

Date:: c. 1832/34
Medium:: Color woodblock print; otanzaku
Format:: Oban
Source:: Art Institute of Chicago

Typical Price

Later reprint (Meiji–Taisho era publishers): $50–$400
Good later impression (Edo-period, faded pigments): $1,000–$5,000
Good early impression (vivid color, sensitive observation): $5,000–$20,000
Fine early impression (exceptional freshness and condition): $20,000–$50,000

Hiroshige's bird-and-flower prints (kacho-e) were enormously popular during his lifetime. Typically in vertical chuban or koban format, they represent the most accessible entry point for collectors of Hiroshige's work. Fine impressions retain remarkable freshness of color.

Description

A white heron stands beside purple iris flowers in this narrow otanzaku-format bird-and-flower print from around 1832–34. The pairing of white heron and iris was one of the classic combinations in Japanese painting — the bird's vertical stillness against the upright leaves and horizontal blooms. Hiroshige's treatment is spare and elegant, the limited palette of white, purple, and green conveying the fresh quality of early summer at a wetland margin.