Plum Branches with Flowers and a Rolled Mat 19th century

This is Kubo Shunman's "Plum Branches with Flowers and a Rolled Mat", a woodblock print made in Japan around the late 18th or early 19th century. The dominant visual experience is one of delicate balance and contrast. Shunman arranges the natural, organic forms of plum blossoms against the geometric precision of a rolled mat. The plum branches, rendered with thin lines, are studded with small, soft-colored blossoms. These are juxtaposed against the mat’s grid-like pattern, a strict arrangement of alternating squares. This formal contrast is not merely decorative; it suggests a deeper interplay between nature and artifice, spontaneity and order. Shunman uses the rolled mat not only to frame nature, but as a tool to challenge conventional understandings of space and representation. The print invites us to consider how art shapes our perception, and how we negotiate between the structured world and the natural one.