Dutchmen Unloading Cargo at Dejima by Anonymous

Dutchmen Unloading Cargo at Dejima c. 19th century

painting, watercolor

water colours

painting

asian-art

landscape

ukiyo-e

japan

oil painting

watercolor

watercolour illustration

genre-painting

watercolor

This anonymous 19th-century painting, *Dutchmen Unloading Cargo at Dejima*, depicts the bustling scene of Dutch traders unloading goods at the Dutch trading post of Dejima in Nagasaki, Japan. Dejima was the only point of contact between Japan and the outside world during the Edo period, and this artwork offers a glimpse into the carefully controlled interactions that took place between the two nations. The painting's detailed rendering of the ships, the bustling waterfront, and the figures engaged in the unloading process provides a fascinating insight into the commerce and cultural exchange that occurred at Dejima. The artwork is currently housed at the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

Comments

minneapolisinstituteofart about 1 year ago

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In the sixteenth century, Nagasaki, in far southwestern Japan, was transformed from a remote fishing village into a bustling harbor city frequented by Portuguese, Chinese, and Southeast Asian visitors. A century later, the Tokugawa shogunate designated Nagasaki as one of Japan’s only official international ports. This painting portrays a group of Dutchmen carrying cargo into a walled compound at Dejima, a fan-shaped, artificial island in Nagasaki Bay that served as a trading post reserved for use by Dutch traders until the mid-nineteenth century.