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Ikiutsushi ikoku jinbutsu: Roshiajin rashayō kau no zu Title: Life Drawings of People of Foreign Nations: Picture of Russians Raising Sheep for Wool Artist: Sadahide (1807-ca. 1878) 1860:11 Format: Woodblock print Medium: Ink and color on paper Dimensions: 34.8 x23.8 cm (13 11/16 x9 3/8 in.) Source: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution Sadahide's prints reveal the artist's interest in precisely recording the appearance and behavior of the foreigners. Here a military officer wearing an appropriately ornamented uniform looks on while another offers food to a long-haired goat. Stretching its neck upward, the goat is depicted in the sympathetic and endearing manner typical of Sadahide's portrayals of animals, which ranged from pet dogs to walruses. The foreigners in Yokohama kept domesticated animals as pets and for food. Although imported woolen fabrics had been used occasionally for the garments of daimyō, sheep were not raised in Japan. For Sadahide the livestock imported to Yokohama made an exotic subject worthy of depicting in his documentary pictures. Here he depicts a goat rather than the sheep mentioned in the title. [Adapted from Ann Yonemura, Yokohama: Prints from Nineteenth-Century Japan] Visualizing Cultures image number: Y0106 |
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