Author: [WATERCOLOUR - JAPANESE - DESHIMA].
Title: [Portrait of Jan Cocq Blomhoff and his wife Titia Bergsma on Deshima, Japan].[Japan, ca. 1817 or later]. Drawing size ca. 56.5 x 25.5 cm; frame size ca. 74.5 x 40.5 cm. Watercolour and ink drawing, partly highlighted with white water paint and gouache, on paper. In a passepartout and framed.
Description: Early 19th-century watercolour drawing of Jan Cocq Blomhof (1779-1853) and his wife Titia Bergsma (1786-1821), by an anonymous Japanese artist. Blomhof was the highest Dutch official at the Dutch trading settlement on Deshima in Japan in the period of 1817-1824. During their short stay at Deshima, Blomhoff and especially his wife became popular subjects for Japanese artists to depict, most of whom had never seen a foreign woman before. With two exceptions in the 17th century, Titia Bergsma is widely regarded to be the first Western woman to visit Japan. Even today, her iconography still influences Japanese art, in particular Japanese porcelain.This watercolour is probably created by a Japanese artist originating from the Nagasaki school of painting, of which the painter Ishizaki Yushi (1768-1846) and his pupil Kawahara Keiga (1786-ca. 1860) are the best-known artists at the beginning of the 19th century. Kawahara Keiga was allowed to work at the island of Deshima with permission from the Japanese government and in the period of 1811-1842 he documented the daily life of the Dutch and Japanese inhabitants. The anonymous artist has depicted this Dutch couple standing outside, Jan Cocq Blomhoff - with almond-shaped blue eyes and reddish-brown hair, wearing a black headgear and holding a wooden walking stick in his right hand - is dressed in a long black coat with red lining embellished with white embroidery, a blue and white striped shirt with long white sleeves, a white neckerchief, white trousers and black shoes. His wife, Titia Bergsma - also with almond-shaped blue eyes and reddish-brown hair, wearing a white headgear adorned with two blue ornaments - is dressed in a red jacket and grey skirt embellished with white embroidery, a white shirt with long white sleeves, a blue belt and blue shoes.With several rubbed spots in the image, some with minor loss of the image and/or the paper, the occasional wormholes have been restored with paper on the verso, slightly soiled around the edges. Otherwise in good condition.

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