Ukiyo-e Educational Catalog · Record 136059

Ships Leaving a Port in Holland

Artist / 作者: Sen'unsai
Date / 年代: 1800-1899
Medium / 技法: 浮世絵 / Ukiyo-e / Edo / vam
Digital record / 画像記録: 2000 × 1350 px
Source collection / 所蔵元: Victoria and Albert Museum
Published by / 公開者: 水野ナギ
Rights / 権利: Commercial license required
Attribution / 表記: Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Catalog note / 解説

This woodblock print of ships leaving a port in Holland reveals the 18th-century Japanese fascination for scenes of the ‘exotic West’. The scene was probably copied from an image imported into Japan by the Dutch, who were the only Europeans permitted to trade in the country at this time. Certainly the artist would not have visited Holland: leaving Japan was forbidden on pain of death. The print utilises Western linear perspective, still a novel pictorial device in Japan towards the end of the 1700s. The use of light and shade to convey volume is another mark of Western influence in this print.

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