Fierce battle between Japan and China at Songhwan Station

Object Details

• Label

  The artist of this print is not identified. A network of orange lines represent the terrifying ferocity of the battle in which Chinese and Japanese soldiers fight hand to hand as gunfire, swords, and bayonets threaten them all. The location is Songhwan in southern Korea, the site of a battle on 29 July 1894. Despite the modern weaponry and the novel graphic imagery of the representations of gunfire, much of the visual precedent for portraying the soldiers in battle comes from traditional Japanese paintings which survive from as early as the Kamakura period (1185-1333).

• Provenance

  From the 1960s to 1999

  Elizabeth D. Woodbury, Japan and Alexandria, VA, purchased in Japan in the 1960s [1]

  From 1999

  Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, given by Elizabeth D. Woodbury in 1999

  Notes:

  [1] According to Provenance Remark 1 in the object record.

• Collection

  National Museum of Asian Art Collection

• Previous custodian or owner

  Elizabeth D. Woodbury

• Origin

  Japan

• Credit Line

  Gift--the Elizabeth D. Woodbury collection of prints from Meiji Japan

• Type

  Print

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1890s

• Name

  Woodbury, Elizabeth D.

• Place

  Japan

• Topic

  Wars, Art, Japanese Art, Triptych, Elizabeth D. Woodbury collection, Meiji era (1868 - 1912)

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Prints