Complete Enumeration of Scenic Places in Foreign Nations: City of Washington in America

Object Details

• Artist

  Utagawa Yoshitora 歌川芳虎 (active ca. 1850-1880)

• Label

  Washington, D.C., became famous in Japan after President James Buchanan held a reception in May 1860 for the first Japanese diplomatic mission to the United States. The inscription reads in part:

  "The metropolis called Washington is…said to be bounded by the borders of the states of Virginia and Maryland and the Potomac River...Although there are many kinds of merchandise for sale in the shops, bookshops and tobacco shops are numerous…Its prosperity is first among the nations of the world."

  The artist, who was unable to read English, relied on a newspaper illustration of Agra, India, to render the buildings and figures at the left and right.

• Collection

  National Museum of Asian Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Japan After Perry: Views of Yokohama and Meiji Japan (April 1 to May 30, 2003)

  Yokohama: Prints from Nineteenth-Century Japan (May 27 1990 to January 10, 1991)

• Origin

  Yokohama, Japan

• Credit Line

  Gift of the Daval Foundation, from the Collection of Ambassador and Mrs. William Leonhart

• Type

  Print

• Restrictions and Rights

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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, 1860s, 1670s, 1660s

• Name

  Utagawa, Yoshitora

• Place

  Japan, Yokohama

• Topic

  Foreigner, Art, Edo period, Japan, (1600 - 1868), Japanese Art, Cities and towns, Ukiyo-e, Triptych, Business

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Prints