Foreign artwork of old Japan

Ever wonder what Japan looked like in the 19th century? These galleries of artwork created by foreigners in the early days of the opening of Japan provide an interesting look into that time period and how westerners perceived the Japanese:

Images from Narrative of the Expedition of An American Squadron to the China and Japan etc. (1856):

Images from LE JAPON ILLUSTRE (1870):

And finally, a much older set of images from a book by Engelbert Kaempfer, who was in Japan in the 1690’s:

Gallery 1

[Via Mari's Blog]

3 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - March 22, 2007 at 12:10 pm

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3 Comments »

Comment by Akoua Doffou

2007-03-22 13:10:54

Wow, great find!

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Comment by Alex

2007-03-22 23:33:14

Agreed… Really great find James!

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