ADVENT BIRDS ON SNOWY PINE

Island Bulbuls on snow-covered pine by Nakayama Sūgakudō

This woodblock print comes from a series by Sūgakudō titled ‘Forty-eight Hawks Drawn from Life’, first published in 1859. This wonderful series illustrates many varieties of birds (not just hawks) in their natural habitats in fine detail.

The birds depicted here are bulbuls, members of a family of medium-sized passerine songbirds. The family is distributed across most of Africa and into the Middle East, tropical Asia to Indonesia, and north as far as Japan. While different species are found in a wide range of habitats, the African species are predominantly found in rainforest, whereas Asian bulbuls are predominantly found in more open areas.

Island Bulbuls on snow-covered pine
Nakayama Sūgakudō (1850–1860)

1859
Colour woodblock print
EAX.4557

Not currently on display