Kakemono familie Cock Blomhoff

anonymous

1817 - 1825

Medium
paper, paint (coating), silk
Classification
kakemono
Dimensions
height 151.5 cm x width 55 cm
Museum
Rijksmuseum
Rights
Public Domain Mark, as the museum states it.
Who can see it
Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed

View at the Rijksmuseum

About this work

A Dutch woman on Deshima. Kakimono (wallscroll), c. 1817. Everyday life for the Dutch at the trading post of Deshima was bound by strict rules. For example, no European women were permitted. Nevertheless, one Dutch head, Jan Cock Blomhoff, brought his wife to Japan in 1817. Within a few months the Japanese authorities had sent her home to the Netherlands. There, in 1822, she died without ever having seen her husband again. This rare appearance of a European woman in Japan made an enormous impact. Titia Cock Blomhoff became the subject of numerous Japanese portraits. Here she is shown together with a Javanese servant and a European wet-nurse. The wet-nurse is carrying the woman's son wrapped in a Japanese shawl. The silk painting is pasted on paper.