A Foreign Residence in Yokohama
Utagawa Yoshikazu Japanese
Not on view
This fanciful triptych depicts Westerners enjoying a banquet at a merchant’s private residence in the foreign settlement of Yokohama. The title refers to the residence as a yashiki, a term usually reserved for a wealthy samurai’s mansion. Yoshikazu’s rendering includes Yokohama Harbor in the background, while the interior shows a lavishly decorated home with more than a dozen men, women, and children, including a man playing a cello and another getting a shave. The house is decorated with Western accessories such as a chandelier, carpet, grand mirror, glass windows, and dining-room table laden with food and drink and people seated on chairs. The kitchen features a woodburning stove.