# Heron on a Willow Branch

- By: Maruyama Ōkyo (Japanese, 1733–1795)
- Date: late 1700s
- Medium: Two-panel folding screen; ink, color, lacquer, and gold on silk
- Classification: Painting
- Dimensions: Image: 69.4 x 185 cm (27 5/16 x 72 13/16 in.)
- Culture: Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
- Credit line: Bequest of Mrs. A. Dean Perry
- Museum: [Cleveland Museum of Art](https://clevelandart.org/art/1997.108)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1997.108/1997.108_web.jpg
- Who can see it: Little Ones profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Okyo was the most influential painter and teacher of his time in Kyoto. His mastery of brush and ink found expression in a variety of Chinese and Japanese subjects, painting styles, and formats. This depiction of a heron on a willow branch is done in a classical Japanese painting (yamato-e) style, utilizing flat areas of colorful pigments set against an expansive background with little or no spatial depth.