Lot Essay
This is the left-hand screen of a pair depicting the arrival of Portuguese traders at Nagasaki on the west coast of Kyushu, the southernmost of the four main islands of Japan. The Portuguese nao do trato was known to the Japanese as the kurofune (black ship) or Namban bune ("Namban" ship), the ship of the southern barbarians. The great ship was a three-deck carrack of up to 1,600 tons, and its enormous size was the cause of much wonder and excitement in Japan at the time of its annual visit. (This particular ship has been embellished by the artist with some distinctly orientalizing features.) The crew is here shown performing alarming acrobatic feats in the rigging as they dismantle the sails. Cargo is already being offloaded onto the shore and curious sightseers have hired a small craft for a closer look at the great ship. The admiring Japanese would have been shocked by the words of an experienced European traveler who said: "The ships are mighty foul and stink withal." (1)
The carrack set off for Macao and Japan from Goa, the center of the Portuguese empire in Asia, and many of the crew are dark-skinned natives of the Indian subcontinent. Portuguese were permitted access to Japan between 1571 and 1640, when the shogun put into effect a seclusionist policy that closed the country to all outsiders other than Chinese merchants, a handful of Dutch traders, and occasional Korean emissaries.
The European captain-major has been ferried ashore. He is shown parading through town at the far right edge of the screen, wearing an elegant red cloak, and followed by various attendants, one of whom carries a furled sunshade. The now missing right-hand screen probably depicted a continuation of the shop fronts lining the main street and a small welcoming committee of Jesuits from the local Catholic mission, coming out to meet the traders.
The earliest screen of this type is thought to date from the 1590s and is attributed to Kano Mitsunobu, who was called from Kyoto to the city of Nagoya in northern Kyushu, where he observed Portuguese at first hand. The exotic subject fascinated the Japanese, and it was copied in numerous versions in the 17th century by artists in Kyoto for clientele curious to study the strange costumes and odd physiognimy of these entertaining Southern Barbarians. The artist typically exaggerates their height and emphasizes the balloon-like bagginess of their bombacha pantaloons, but focuses also on distinctive details such as the large hankerchiefs and heavy gold necklaces.
(1) Michael Cooper, The Southern Barbarians (Tokyo and Palo Alto: Kodansha International, 1971), p.23
The carrack set off for Macao and Japan from Goa, the center of the Portuguese empire in Asia, and many of the crew are dark-skinned natives of the Indian subcontinent. Portuguese were permitted access to Japan between 1571 and 1640, when the shogun put into effect a seclusionist policy that closed the country to all outsiders other than Chinese merchants, a handful of Dutch traders, and occasional Korean emissaries.
The European captain-major has been ferried ashore. He is shown parading through town at the far right edge of the screen, wearing an elegant red cloak, and followed by various attendants, one of whom carries a furled sunshade. The now missing right-hand screen probably depicted a continuation of the shop fronts lining the main street and a small welcoming committee of Jesuits from the local Catholic mission, coming out to meet the traders.
The earliest screen of this type is thought to date from the 1590s and is attributed to Kano Mitsunobu, who was called from Kyoto to the city of Nagoya in northern Kyushu, where he observed Portuguese at first hand. The exotic subject fascinated the Japanese, and it was copied in numerous versions in the 17th century by artists in Kyoto for clientele curious to study the strange costumes and odd physiognimy of these entertaining Southern Barbarians. The artist typically exaggerates their height and emphasizes the balloon-like bagginess of their bombacha pantaloons, but focuses also on distinctive details such as the large hankerchiefs and heavy gold necklaces.
(1) Michael Cooper, The Southern Barbarians (Tokyo and Palo Alto: Kodansha International, 1971), p.23