A colourful Japanese triptych imagines a Western merchant family in an elaborate drawing room, with foreign ships visible through the windows.

9th month, 1861 · Triptych of woodblock prints; ink and colour on paper

Foreigners in the Drawing Room of Foreign Merchant's House in Yokohama

Utagawa (Gountei) Sadahide

Why it matters

The imaginary interior shows how the treaty port became a Japanese print genre. Foreign life was made visible through classification and invention even while residents were spatially restricted to Yokohama.

Publication
Yokohama-e triptych
Holding institution
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Department of Asian Art
Shelfmark
2007.49.131a–c
Rights
Public Domain; The Met Open Access

Citation

Utagawa (Gountei) Sadahide. Foreigners in the Drawing Room of Foreign Merchant's House in Yokohama. 9th month, 1861. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2007.49.131a–c.