A hand-coloured Japanese woodcut shows five Dutch men eating at a table while two enslaved men from what is now Indonesia serve food and pour a drink.

1790–1810 · Hand-coloured woodcut

Dutchmen at a Meal

Anonymous Japanese printmaker; after Rin Shihei (attributed)

Why it matters

Made for the Nagasaki tourist market, the print presents Dutch domestic behaviour as a local spectacle. The two enslaved men from what is now Indonesia also expose a labour relation that disappears from many European accounts and souvenir views of Deshima.

Publication
Nagasaki print for the tourist market
Holding institution
Rijksmuseum
Shelfmark
NG-1978-110
Rights
Public Domain; Rijksmuseum

Citation

Anonymous Japanese printmaker, after Rin Shihei (attributed). Dutchmen at a Meal. 1790–1810. Hand-coloured woodcut. Rijksmuseum, NG-1978-110.