Among winding vines and pastel petals, Sugakudo Nakayama presents a variety of birds that hop beneath the brush and perch high within the canopy. A student of Hiroshige, Sugakudo established himself as a leading artist of kacho-e (bird-and-flower prints) during the mid-19th century. The woodblock prints in this collection belong to his famous series, Forty-Eight Hawks Drawn from Life (1859). Published by Koeido in 1859, these prints are acclaimed for their realistic rendering of the natural world, as well as their delicacy of color, fine embossing, and high-technical quality. Designs from this series can be found in collections such as the British Museum, Honolulu Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.