Picture of a Salesroom in a Foreign Mercantile Firm in Yokohama

Maker(s)
Artist: Utagawa Sadahide 歌川貞秀 (1807-1873)
Historical period(s)
Edo period, 1861
Medium
Woodblock print; ink and color on paper
Dimensions
H x W (image): 34.8 x 72.8 cm (13 11/16 x 28 11/16 in)
Geography
Japan
Credit Line
Gift of Ambassador and Mrs. William Leonhart
Collection
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
Accession Number
S1998.44a-c
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Print
Type

Woodblock print

Keywords
commerce, Edo period (1615 - 1868), foreigner, Japan, tea, triptych, ukiyo-e, washing, WWII-era provenance
Provenance
Provenance research underway.
Label

A Chinese merchant, one among a large community of men in Yokohama who worked as compradors and money changers, looks on from the right as Japanese and Western merchants struggle to conduct transactions. Sign language supplements their limited knowledge of each others' native languages. At left, in the back room, an international group of servants prepares food, including meat and fowl. Scholar Julia Meech has suggested that two triptychs, this image and Picture of a Mercantile Establishment in Yokohama (see S1991.152a-c) were designed to form a single composition with this triptych below the other.

Published References
  • Peter N. Stearns. World History in Brief: Major Patterns of Change and Continuity., 6th ed. New York. vol. 2: cover.
  • Ann Yonemura, Milo Cleveland Beach, The Honorable and Mrs. William Leonhart. Yokohama: Prints From 19th Century Japan. Exh. cat. Washington. cat. 14, pp. 86-87.
Collection Area(s)
Japanese Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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