An owl with tufted ears perches above a curving stream

An owl with tufted ears and a buff-tan face perches on a dark, gnarled branch that curves down through the composition, its plumage rendered in loose ink washes with touches of warm tan colour. Small dark leaf clusters hang from the branch, a cluster of bare twig-tips forks up from it, and a single thin reed rises behind. Below, fine curling lines trace a stream that gathers into a pale cascading fall at the lower left. A three-character signature and a square red seal are brushed at the lower right.

The original: a hanging scroll, ink and slight color on paper, Japan, circa 1710, in the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis.

Hanabusa Itchō (1652–1724) was a Japanese painter and haiku poet born in Osaka, the son of a physician. Originally named Taga Shinkō, he trained under the Kanō painter Kanō Yasunobu, then left the school to found his own Hanabusa school. He studied poetry under Matsuo Bashō, was exiled to an island in Izu province in 1699, and took the name Hanabusa Itchō after returning to Edo. He painted city life in Edo, comic plays and Buddhist subjects. His work is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Minneapolis Institute of Art and the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Printed as a museum-grade giclée on Hahnemühle fine art paper using 12-ink archival pigment printing. Available handframed in FSC-certified wood with optional float glass, or unframed. Ships worldwide with free delivery to 30+ countries.