For much of the Edo period (1615−1868), foreign trade in Japan was very limited. From roughly 1640 to the mid-nineteenth century, the only Westerners permitted official trade privileges with Japan were the Dutch, who were confined to a small man-made island in the bay at Nagasaki. The Japanese were fascinated with all things foreign, and objects decorated with images of foreigners were popular. With few opportunities for firsthand observation, renderings of Dutchmen were primarily based on existing pictorial works such as paintings, prints, or printed books. Over time, however, the much-repeated physical features, attire, and associated objects of the Dutch became formulaic. With few exceptions, Dutchmen were depicted with large noses, large round eyes, and long curly hair. In polychrome works, their hair would be red. They sported long coats often decorated with a design of water, the waves alluding both to the sea from which they arrived and to their professions as seafaring traders. Hats were common attributes, and the buttons running down the front of their coats were invariably emphasized with the use of inlays. They were frequently portrayed holding a small animal or bird, particularly a rooster or dog, as here, or an item associated with their foreign origins such as a matchlock gun, spyglass, or trumpetlike horn. The majority of netsuke portraying foreigners were fashioned from ivory, an imported material that further emphasized the figures’ overseas origins.
2025
