Yoshifuji: Russian Officer and his Wife Yokohama-e (SOLD)

Artist: Utagawa Yoshifuji (1828-1887)
Title: Yokohama-e of Russian Man and Wife
Date: 1861

Portrait of a Russian couple, the man wearing a sword and a long sleeveless fur coat. His wife has curly hair and an elaborate hat and long earrings. Most fascinating to the Japanese would be that they are holding hands; something that Japanese couples would never be caught doing in public. This is from the brief Yokohama-e boom of 1860-61, when the Japanese public could not get enough images of the strange new foreigners living in Yokohama. Also interesting is the western writing in the cartouche. We see crouching behind them an attendant, probably a Russian soldier.

SKU: YSF002