This wonderful image of a flowering plum tree with two plump sparrows exemplifies the spectacular pictorial scenes that could be created by inlaying lacquer with mother-of-pearl of different shapes and colors. Long, narrow pieces of iridescent pearl shell form the clumps of rocks that sit before the trunk of the flowering plum, while mother-of-pearl of different shapes and sizes is used to depict the bamboo and the ancient tree, whose craggy trunk bears buds in various stages of bloom.
