Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川広重

Tree Sparrows and Camellia in Snow, Edo Period

Maker

Title

Tree Sparrows and Camellia in Snow

Year

Edo Period

Medium

ink and color

Materials/Techniques

Dimensions

Ōtanzakuban: 37 x 17.5 cm (14 9/16 x 6 7/8 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Inscription Text/Poem: 烏鳶争食雀争巣 独立池辺風雪多
Translation: While crows and kites fight for scraps, and sparrows quarrel over nests,/
You stand alone beside the pond, as wind and snow fall thick.
(Translation from Zimo Yang, 2025 Mellon Summer Intern)

Signature: 廣重筆 Hiroshige hitsu (Brushed by Hiroshige)

Seals: Designer's seal: 歌川 Utagawa; Publisher's seal: 若林堂 Jakurindō (若狭屋与市 Wakasaya Yoichi); Collector's seal at lower right: 林 忠正 Hayashi Tadamasa

Identification

Edition

Note in Bogel remarks on the quality of impression and embossing, calling this the first state of the print with uniform grey ground applied before the embossing to flowers. There is additional embossing on the birds.

Place

Place Made: Japan; Place Made: Edo (location)

Type

Credit

Gift of Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr.

Object Number

34.288.2

Tree Sparrows and Camellia in Snow

Note in Bogel remarks on the quality of impression and embossing, calling this the first state of the print with uniform grey ground applied before the embossing to flowers. There is additional embossing on the birds.

Inscription Text/Poem: 烏鳶争食雀争巣 独立池辺風雪多
Translation: While crows and kites fight for scraps, and sparrows quarrel over nests,/
You stand alone beside the pond, as wind and snow fall thick.
(Translation from Zimo Yang, 2025 Mellon Summer Intern)

Signature: 廣重筆 Hiroshige hitsu (Brushed by Hiroshige)

Seals: Designer's seal: 歌川 Utagawa; Publisher's seal: 若林堂 Jakurindō (若狭屋与市 Wakasaya Yoichi); Collector's seal at lower right: 林 忠正 Hayashi Tadamasa

Place Made: Japan; Place Made: Edo (location)

Exhibition History

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in Copyright. This object is Tree Sparrows and Camellia in Snow with the accession number of 34.288.2. To request new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.