Plucking a Branch from a Neighbor's Plum Tree

Plucking a Branch from a Neighbor's Plum Tree

Suzuki Harunobu

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Plucking a Branch from a Neighbor's Plum TreePlucking a Branch from a Neighbor's Plum TreePlucking a Branch from a Neighbor's Plum TreePlucking a Branch from a Neighbor's Plum TreePlucking a Branch from a Neighbor's Plum Tree

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.