Kataoka Tamako is known for her Countenance (tsuragamae) and Mount Fuji series of paintings. With her Tsuragamae paintings, Kataoka strove to portray not only the different appearance of her subjects but also the inner core of their characters. For example, when painting the feudal lord Uesugi Kenshin, she meticulously studied 150 bequeathed items of clothing before concluding that the ones most commonly worn by Kenshin were those with the most wear and tear around the knees and sleeve openings. In this way, she tried to capture the humanity and spirit of her subjects in a manner that transcended time and space.

Kataoka often painted flowers too. She depicted them in a number of different ways, such as blooming in a garden in Picnic (1951); as garment designs in Scene from the Kabuki Play Nambanji Monzen (1954) and Bugaku Dance (1969); as blossoms sitting next to a nude women and enhancing the overall beauty of the scene in Pose 3 (1985); and as symbols of the natural world in A Floral Offering to Mount Fuji (1990). In most of these, the flowers play the auxiliary role of accentuating the presence of the subject or lending an aura of splendor to the overall composition. In this work, though, Kataoka presents a world where flowers themselves are the main theme.

A blue vase sits on a tabletop exuding a rustic air with its seemingly unglazed surface and painted motifs. The vase is packed full of red and yellow tulips and lilies, all rendered in an uncomplicated manner. The unusual, somewhat-jocular flowers in the center may belong to the ananas family, but rather than striving to portray the elegance and gorgeousness of the flowers, the artist has used thick outlines and bright colors to imbue them with a weighty sense of presence reminiscent of Kamakura-bori or tsuishu style lacquerware. Though the depiction retains an air of splendor, it is not overly showy. It also exudes a refined sense of unity that probably emerges from the congruence of the table color with the resonant, harmonized tones of the flowers, seeds, and lily pistils, for example. 

The backdrop is divided up horizontally. The first and third tiers feature varying concentrations of grey, while the middle tier and the table at the bottom are both painted in similar low-density hues, a device that imbues the work with a sense of consistency. The use of straight lines to demarcate a canvas can result in a monotonous pattern, but the small unpainted section here resembles an undercoating and it lends an unrefined, rough feel to the horizontal stripes in the background.

Kataoka Tamako (nihonga painter; 1905–2008)
Originally from Hokkaido, Kataoka graduated from Joshibi College of Art and Design, where she had studied with Yoshimura Tadao, Nakajima Kiyoshi, and Yasuda Yukihiko. She participated regularly at the Inten exhibitions and was member of the Japan Art Institute. Kataoka held a teaching position at a primary school in Yokohama, and later became a professor of art at Joshibi. After travels in Europe in 1962, she opened her style towards contemporary Western influence and gained renown for her Countenance series. She was named a Person of Cultural Merit in 1986 and received the Order of Culture in 1989.