Still Life: Double Cherry-Blossom Branch, Telescope, Sweet Fish, and Tissue Case

Still Life: Double Cherry-Blossom Branch, Telescope, Sweet Fish, and Tissue Case

Katsushika Hokusai

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The two poems in the upper part of the print were composed by Asakusa-an (1755–1821) and his contemporary Teika-an on the theme of cherry blossoms. In this pleasing composition, the motifs are limited to double cherry blossoms, a telescope, a pair of sweet fish, and a tissue case. The combination of such objects in a pictorial image is mysteriously suggestive. Hokusai's signature reads Gakyōjin Hokusai ga ("painted by the madman of painting, Hokusai").

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Still Life: Double Cherry-Blossom Branch, Telescope, Sweet Fish, and Tissue CaseStill Life: Double Cherry-Blossom Branch, Telescope, Sweet Fish, and Tissue CaseStill Life: Double Cherry-Blossom Branch, Telescope, Sweet Fish, and Tissue CaseStill Life: Double Cherry-Blossom Branch, Telescope, Sweet Fish, and Tissue CaseStill Life: Double Cherry-Blossom Branch, Telescope, Sweet Fish, and Tissue Case

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.