Ehon noyamagusa

5 volumes of flower drawings from the Japanese Illustrated Books from the Edo and Meiji Periods collection made available by Smithsonian Libraries: Ehon Noyamagusa by Tachibana Yazukuni. The books were originally published in the mid-1700s. They are woodblock prints…ink on paper.

The 1700s were a time of exploration around the world and plants were part of the discoveries being made. Many of the plants depicted in these books are in gardens around the world now but would have been new and wonderous in Europe at the time these books were produced.

I picked an image from each of the 5 volumes. My favorite is the last one: lotuses.