Art Institute of Chicago

Small Box

Artist unknown

Date

17th century

Medium

Lacquer with gold and inlay

Culture

Japan

Department

Arts of Asia

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

The proliferation of foreign faces in Edo-era prints has its roots in the appearance of Portuguese and Spanish “Southern Barbarians” in Japan in the mid-16th century and Dutch and English “Red-Hairs” in the early 17th. The “Southern Barbarian” figures decorating this box are shown wearing Portuguese fashions—tight-fitting jackets and ballooning trousers festooned with ruffles—which are depicted within the conventions of Japanese art. Fierce eyes and exaggerated noses complete the ensemble of alien attributes, while the mastiff pictured with the figures—more comic than threatening—reflects the new large dog breeds introduced to Japan from Europe.

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