Beschreibung:

JAPAN AND RUSSIA] Ikoku Fubutsu Dampen ('Some unusual sights from foreign countries'). Folding album ( cho ) of watercolours. [Japan: mid 19th century]. 434 x 310 mm. 65 drawings in pen, ink and watercolours on rice paper, many with accompanying text, mounted on 42 folding leaves (most drawings have frayed edges and wormholes), tissue guards, in 20th century leather boards (worn) with title in Japanese. A REMARKABLE AND VIVID DOCUMENT OF THE JAPANESE ENCOUNTER WITH RUSSIA IN THE MID 19TH CENTURY AT THE TIME OF JAPAN'S 'OPENING'. The album comprises two series of drawings, unfortunately muddled by the binder. Most of the drawings are copied from the Kankai Ibun ('Strange tales from overseas'), compiled in 1807 for government officials only. This account was based on the experiences of a party of Japanese who were shipwrecked on the coast of Sakhalin in 1793, and who, after spending many years in Siberia (owing to Japan's policy of isolation they could not easily be returned home) were taken to St. Petersburg in 1802 where they were received by the Tsar. In June of that year those of them who wished to return to Japan left Kronstadt with the embassy of Rezanov in the Nadezhda , under the command of Krusenstern. In September 1804, after a voyage around the world via Brazil, the West Coast of Canada and Kamchatka, they reached Nagasaki where they were handed over; the Russians did not, however, succeed in opening trade relations with Japan as they had hoped. Both Krusenstern and von Langsdorff, the expedition's naturalist, wrote notable descriptions of the voyage. These drawings form a unique complement to their accounts. The other drawings in the album relate to the visit of the Russian admiral Putiatin to Nagasaki in 1853, at the time of the Crimean War, to keep an eye on Commander Perry and try to ensure that Russia was not excluded from whatever concessions Perry might obtain. The portrait of Putiatin on f.7 is obviously drawn from life, and recalls a little-known episode of the 'opening' of Japan. The drawings include: f.1) Russian flags . f.2) Portraits of Tsar Alexander I and the Tsarina. f.3) Portrait of Rezanov (in blue coat) and 'Ratoman' (possibly Laxmann, who visited Japan in the Katarina in 1792). f.4) A Russian grenadier. f.5) The Nadezhda among icebergs. f.6) Admiral Putiatin's flagship. f.7) Portrait of Putiatin; the Bronze Horseman in St Petersburg. ff.8-11) Japanese boats and coast-defence measures in Nagasaki Bay in 1853. f.12) House where Rezanov's embassy was confined in Nagasaki in 1804. f.13) A Russian windmill. f.14) A Russian church. f.15) A Russian theatre. ff.16-17) Building containing a giant globe; Observatory (part of Peter the Great's Kunstkammer ?). ff.18,19,21) Houses, dinner-party, etc in Russia. f.20) A Russian bath. ff.22-23) Travelling across Siberia. f.24) A sawmill. f.25) 'Kanatsuda' harbour: presumably Kronstadt in 1802. f.26) A balloon; a fire-engine. ff.27-28,30-33) Images of Siberian life: barracks, a monastery, utensils, a log-cabin, a sleigh, ornaments etc. ff.29(a),38) Harpoons and harpooning (in the Aleutians?). ff.34,37) Natives of the Marquesas Islands in the Pacific. f.35) 'Sampeikki' natives: presumably some Pacific islanders; 'Akurato' natives: possibly Canadian Indians or Aleutian Islanders. ff.36,39,41,42) Seal, sea-lion, crocodile, fish, bird etc, encountered on the voyage. f.40) Igloo and kayaks.