This folding screen depicts the customs of nanbanjin, Western Europeans who came by ship to Japan in the latter half of the 16th century. Folding screens were decorative pieces used to separate rooms and shield against the wind, and nanbanjin mainly referred to visitors from Portugal. For Japanese during this time period, the subject of this picture was appealing because of its exoticism. This folding screen is the left half of the entire screen and shows two ships from Western Europe docking at a port town. It was painted in the first half of the 17th century.
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