A nuthatch among ripe persimmons

A small white-headed, grey-backed nuthatch perches on a branch amid three ripe orange persimmons and blue-grey leaves, its head turned down toward the fruit. The persimmons show dark whorled calyx marks at their base, and the branches curve down and away from the bird in a loose diagonal against a plain warm-toned ground. The artist's red seal, reading Koson, sits at lower right.

Ohara Koson (1877–1945) was the leading bird-and-flower (kachō-ga) artist of the shin-hanga movement. Trained in Kanazawa and Tokyo in the Shijō painting tradition, he designed prints from around 1900, first for export publishers and from 1926 for Watanabe Shōzaburō under the name Shōson. Herons in snow, crows on a branch, goldfish and sparrows are drawn with a naturalist's precision and printed with soft gradations and embossed feathers. His prints are held by the Rijksmuseum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Metropolitan 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.