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Basket of Peonies
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
A surimono is a privately commissioned print used to announce or commemorate a special event. This picture celebrates an event in the life of the actor Ichikawa Danjuro VII, whose emblem was the peony. According to Japanese tradition, the peony–one of the flowers of the four seasons–is the flower of summer.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineBasket of Peonies, 1810 or 1814. Katsushika Hokusai (Japanese, 1760–1849). Color woodblock print; surimono; sheet: 52.1 x 38.3 cm (20 1/2 x 15 1/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Ralph King, 1943.5
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