Bezoek van het eerste Japanse gezantschap in Nederland aan de Rijksmunt te Utrecht 1862

Editor: Here we have a commemorative coin from 1862 marking the visit of the first Japanese embassy to the Dutch Mint in Utrecht. It's an engraving, likely on silver, and both sides have very different symbolic vocabularies! What stands out to you in this piece? Curator: Immediately, I see a negotiation of materials and value. Consider the very act of minting this coin. Silver itself, sourced from where, refined how? The act commemorates not just a meeting, but the solidification of trade routes, flows of capital, and colonial power dynamics disguised as diplomacy. Editor: Colonialism, of course. I was caught up in the image, the flags… Curator: The flags are vital visual cues. Whose resources are being exchanged, and under what conditions? Think about the labor involved—the mining of the silver, the engraver's skill in rendering these emblems of national identity. Each strike of the press, each identical coin, serves to normalize and perpetuate this power structure. Do you see how this 'diplomatic' object is saturated in the materiality of labor and power? Editor: Definitely, it's less about just celebrating diplomacy, and more like materially sealing an agreement about labor. Curator: Exactly. It forces us to examine the conditions under which cultural exchange occurred in the 19th century, highlighting the inequalities embedded within the seemingly benign act of exchanging currency. Editor: Thank you for that; it gives me much more to consider beyond the surface. Curator: The materials always have a story to tell, a hidden history to expose if we’re willing to look closely.