While absent from both this collection's print and the print in the collection of the Chazen Museum of Art, the prints in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art both have the publisher's name and publication date in the bottom left and center portion of the image, as shown below. Kiyochika's signature is present on all prints along the lower right of the image.

Kiyochika' has made an effort to de-emphasize line in this print without abandoning the woodblock medium.  It is suggested that this print was designed to compete with the new technology of color lithography.  Particularly effective is the ghostly gray pattern of the decaying lotus in the background.  The careful modeling of the ducks suggests that the artist had observed such birds closely and was aiming more for a scientific Audubon-like accuracy than for the elegance of the traditional bird-and-flower genre.  The print is dated 1879, probably the first year in which the publisher Matsuki began issuing such prints.

About this Impression

This collection's print looks identical to the one in the collection of the Chazen Museum of Art, but shows some differences with the MFA and LACMA prints. It is unknown how many times this image may have been reprinted by the publisher.