Undersea creature (ningyo or mermaid)

Object Details

• Artist

  Kawahara Keiga 川原慶賀 (ca. 1786-1860)

• Label

  This "mermaid," shown from three different angles in three paintings (F1997.23.1, F1997.23.2, F1997.23.3), was constructed from monkey and fish parts stitched together, then dried and lacquered. Such souvenirs were popular with seafarers in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Keiga was the official artist of the Dutch trading settlement located on Deshima, an island in Nagasaki harbor. He specialized in natural history paintings and documentary depictions of Japanese daily life.

• Provenance

  1995

  Sale, Christie’s, Amsterdam, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Himalayan and Southeast Asian Art, October 18, 1995, Sale #2276, lot 502: “A Set of Three Watercolours Depicting a Ningyo.” [1]

  From 1995 to 1997

  Sydney L. Moss Ltd., London, England, purchased at the Sale, Christie’s, Amsterdam, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Himalayan and Southeast Asian Art, October 18, 1995, Sale #2276. [2]

  From 1997

  Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Sydney L. Moss Ltd., London, England. [3]

  Notes:

  [1] See letter from Sydney L. Moss Ltd. Dated May 19, 1997, object file, Collections Management Office. According to the letter the Sydney L. Moss Ltd purchased the painting from Christie’s Amsterdam.

  [2] See note 1.

  [3] See Acquisition Consideration Form, object file, Collections Management Office.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Masters of Mercy: Buddha's Amazing Disciples (March 10 to July 8, 2012)

  Selections from the Japanese Collection (March 22 to November 29, 1999)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Christie's (Amsterdam)

  Sydney L. Moss Ltd.

• Origin

  Japan

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1700s, 1710s, 1720s, 1770s, 1780s, 1790s, 1730s, 1740s, 1750s, 1760s, 1800s, 1810s, 1820s, 1830s, 1610s, 1650s, 1640s, 1630s, 1620s, 1690s, 1840s, 1680s, 1850s, 1670s, 1860s, 1660s

• Name

  Sydney L. Moss Ltd., Christie's (Amsterdam)

• Place

  Japan

• Topic

  Art, Edo period, Japan, (1600 - 1868), Japanese Art, Mermaid

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Paintings