Butterfly and Moth

Hokusai

Ink wash and color on thin handmade paper

Library of Congress

This delicate ink wash drawing depicts a variety of butterflies and moths rendered with meticulous naturalistic observation against a spare, minimalist ground. Attributed to Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849), one of the foremost ukiyo-e artists of the Edo period, the work belongs to a group of drawings formerly bound together and referred to as the "Hokusai School sketchbook," now held in the Library of Congress. Executed in ink wash and color on thin handmade paper, it exemplifies Hokusai's sustained engagement with the natural world — a pursuit that ran parallel to his celebrated landscape series throughout the 1830s and beyond. The composition reflects the artist's consummate draftsmanship and his capacity to imbue modest natural subjects with both scientific precision and aesthetic refinement.