A True View of a Trading House of a Yokohama Merchant

1861

Not on view

This triptych encapsulates what happens when cultures meet and artists try to capture the collision of indigenous and imported fashions. A Western woman in a capacious skirt, cape, and bonnet plays the Japanese children’s game of battledores (a forerunner of badminton) with an elegantly dressed Japanese townswoman. Merchants in top hats get on with business as Japanese, Chinese, and Middle Eastern servants do the manual lifting. The Japanese were shocked (but also clearly fascinated) by the dress and behavior of American women and, more generally, by the relations between Western men and women, which differed greatly from Japanese norms.

Artwork Details

歌川(五雲亭)貞秀画　「横濱商館真圖」
Title: A True View of a Trading House of a Yokohama Merchant
Artist: Utagawa (Gountei) Sadahide (Japanese, 1807–1873)
Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
Date: 1861
Culture: Japan
Medium: Triptych of woodblock prints (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper; vertical ōban
Dimensions: 14 3/8 x 29 1/4 in. (36.5 x 74.3 cm)
Classification: Prints
Credit Line: Gift of Lincoln Kirstein, 1959
Object Number: JP3245
Curatorial Department: Asian Art

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