Hokku poem “On a withered branch” 1680s

This hanging scroll by Matsuo Bashō, a prominent Japanese poet, displays the text of a hokku poem, also known as haiku, that reads “On a withered branch/ A crow is perched, autumn evening.” The artwork is a perfect example of the Japanese tradition of calligraphy and poetry, where the visual aspects of the poem are as important as the words themselves. This small artwork, dating from the 1680s, is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.