Plucking a Branch from a Neighbor's Plum Tree
This print is an excellent example of Harunobu's artistic taste—reflecting nonsensuous tenderness and exquisiteness of figures. Casting off her sandals, a young woman has climbed onto her maid's back to break off a branch of a plum tree growing over a tall wall with a tiled ridge. The two women are elegant and gentle despite their tomboyish behavior. The rigid and monotonous pattern of bricks in the fence is a foil for the graceful figures. Despite Harunobu's depiction of these two young women as innocent, the expression "plucking a branch of plum blossoms" typically refers to a fashionably dressed female and even carries sexual overtones. The young woman wears a kimono (furisode) with hanging sleeves and a design of snow-clad bamboo. Her elaborately tied obi, or sash, has a scrolling floral pattern.
Artwork Details
- Title: Plucking a Branch from a Neighbor's Plum Tree
- Artist: Suzuki Harunobu (Japanese, 1725–1770)
- Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
- Date: ca. 1768
- Culture: Japan
- Medium: Woodblock print; ink and color on paper
- Dimensions: 10 3/4 x 7 7/8 in. (27.3 x 20 cm)
medium-size print (chu-ban) - Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: The Howard Mansfield Collection, Purchase, Rogers Fund, 1936
- Object Number: JP2451
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art
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Suzuki Harunobu
ca. 1769
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Suzuki Harunobu
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Suzuki Harunobu
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