A Pair of Ducks in The Water

A scene where a pair of ducks swim in the water is depicted. A female duck with brown feathers dips in the water. The body and algae in the water are colored with low saturation as if they can be seen through water. The other male appears to look back and up to quack. Chinese whitewash scattered all over the fresh-blue screen seems to be used to reproduce droplets splashed by the ducks. For their feathers, gradation is given to make them look solid and a shading method like a Western painting is applied. As a similar painting of ducks, “Ducks in Flowing Water” (owned by the British Museum) was drawn in 1847, ahead of which this painting was produced. This drawing was previously owned by William Bigelow, a doctor from Boston. Bigelow visited Japan in 1881 and researched into Japanese art and collected works together with Ernest Fenollosa and Okakura Tenshin.