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Promoting Natural & Cultural History
TYPE: | Image |
DATE: | 1775 - 1776 |
ARTIST: | Kitagawa Utamaro (1753?-1806) |
AUTHOR: | Carl Peter Thunberg (1743-1828) & Viveka Hansen |
COLLECTION(S): | Wellcome Library no. 566191i. |
REFERENCE(S): | • Hansen, Viveka, Textilia Linnaeana – Global 18th Century Textile Traditions & Trade, London 2017 (pp. 269-271). |
ADDED: | 04/09/2020 |
iFELLOW: | Viveka Hansen |
JOURNALS ETC: | Linnaeus Apostles Global Science & Adventure, Volume 6, Page 380 |
CONTENT: | Carl Peter Thunberg during his time in Japan 1775-76 made a detailed notations in his journal about Japanese traditions, some of these observations were recorded in a chapter named ‘The Natur and Properties of the Country’. Among many matters pieces of furniture, floor-mats and other practical interior objects were described as just as simple as the style of the Japanese buildings. He noted: ‘Their soft floor-mats serve them for chairs and beds. A small table, about 12 inches square, and four in height, is set down before each person in company at every meal. Here it may be proper to observe, that whereas most of the other nations in India sit with their legs laid across before them, the Chinese and Japanese lay their feet under their bodies, and make a chair of their heels…’ Comparable with this detailed Japanese woodcut, dating circa 1780 by Kitagawa Utamaro (1753?-1806). |
GEO-LOCATION: | WGS84(36.47196, 139.37425) |