Commodore Perry and the Black Ship

Dimension: 10 ½ x 132 in.

The scroll depicts Commodore Perry and his naval fleet stationed at Shimoda Harbor. Commodore Perry was an American naval commander who led American expeditions to Japan, on behalf of President Fillmore, in order to persuade the Japanese to open their ports.1 The scroll is a contemporary record from the year 1854, the year the Treaty of Kanagawa was signed and relations initiated between Japan and the U.S. In a sketchy, outlined manner, it offers views of Perry’s steamship and boats arriving at the harbor, followed by a procession of American officers. Additionally, it features zoomed-in views of the steamship, the officers’ costumes and musical instruments. The disproportional figures indicate that the artist of the scroll was most likely an amateur artist sent out to observe and record what was occurring at Shimoda, similar to a journalist taking a news photograph. Due to the absence of an overall composition and narrative, the scroll could be a sketch in preparation for a more defined painted picture, or it could be a simple documentation jotted down to help familiarize the Japanese public with the American officers and naval fleet. Amelia Miholca Other information (library catalogue, links to websites etc.):, opens in a new window Brown University Library for Digital Scholarship http://library.brown.edu/cds/perry/, opens in a new window 1. Foster Rhea Dulles, Yankees and samurai America’s role in the emergence of modern Japan: 1791-1900 (New York: Harper & Row, 1965) 64.