Wasp and grapes

This print reproduces a painting by Chikuseki, a painter and poet who worked in the Osaka area, a center for Chinese studies in the late Edo period. Chikuseki's painting, which reflects his study of Chinese paintings of natural subjects, is reproduced here by woodblock printing. The print is representative of the continuing interest in Nanga painting by artists trained in Chinese painting styles through the late nineteenth century and also of the ability of late Meiji period printers to replicate the effects of painting.