Surimono are prints that were commissioned by private individuals for a narrow circle rather than for sale, hence the precision of the carving and the restrained luxury of the pigments. Swallows in swift flight and peonies seen in close-up are joined rhythmically, like two lines of one poem.
The sheets were part of the album “Harusame shū”, assembled from works by different artists — an almanac form in which the seasonality of nature holds the whole composition.
