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Ikiutsushi ikoku jinbutsu: Oranda fujin sakazuki o age jidō o aisu no zu Title: Life Drawings of People of Foreign Nations: Picture of Dutch Women Raising a Wineglass and Caring for a Child Artist: Sadahide (1807-ca. 1878) 1861 Format: Woodblock print Medium: Ink and color on paper Dimensions: 34.7 x23.9 cm (13 11/16 x9 3/8 in.) Source: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution The Western custom of drinking wine from stemmed glasses is often represented in Yokohama prints. This print, from the same series as Y0106, describes the costumes in charming detail. The necklace adorning the woman in the foreground is a Western accessory that would have seemed novel in Japan, where jewelry of that style was not worn. Her dress is probably based on the artist's study of fashion plates from European magazines of the 1820s. Knowledge of European fashions of the 1820s may have come directly through a Nagasaki print by the artist Kawahara Keiga (ca. 1787-ca. 1860). This print portrays Mevrouw Cock Blomhoff, a resident of the community of Dutch merchants who were confined to the island of Deshima before the commercial treaties of 1858 were negotiated. Images of foreign children are abundant in Yokohama prints despite the rarity of foreign children in Japan during the years immediately following the opening of Yokohama. Contrary to the series title of this print, the theme was chosen for its popular appeal rather than its authenticity as a drawing from life. [Adapted from Ann Yonemura, Yokohama: Prints from Nineteenth-Century Japan] Visualizing Cultures image number: Y0107 Keywords: Westerners, foreign children, Dutch, alcohol, art influence from the West |
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