Birds on a Branch
ca. 1887
Medium
Album leaf; ink and color on silk
Dimensions
14 x 10 3/4 in. (35.6 x 27.3 cm)
Classification
Paintings
Culture & Period
Japan · Meiji period (1868–1912)
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Charles Stewart Smith Collection, Gift of Mrs. Charles Stewart Smith, Charles Stewart Smith Jr., and Howard Caswell Smith, in memory of Charles Stewart Smith, 1914
Accession Number
14.76.61.56
Tags
Art Historical Context
Welcome to *Birds on a Branch a delicate album leaf created around 1887 by Watanabe Seite, a master of Japanesekachō-e* (bird-and-flower painting). During Japan's Meiji period (186–1912), a time of rapid modernization and cultural exchange with the West, Seitei blended traditional ink techniques with newfound realism, capturing nature's fleeting beauty on silk. This intimate 14 x 10¾-inch work, rendered in ink and subtle colors, invites close contemplation, as album leaves were prized for personal collections rather than grand displays. Seitei's precise brushwork brings the birds—perched grac...