Tateishi Onojiro-Noriyuki
Artist
Charles D. Fredricks
(American, 1823 - 1894)
Date1860
MediumSalt print
DimensionsImage and sheet: 7 15/16 × 6 1/16 inches (20.16 × 15.4 cm)
Mount: 13 3/8 × 10 11/16 inches (33.97 × 27.15 cm)
Mount: 13 3/8 × 10 11/16 inches (33.97 × 27.15 cm)
Credit LineGift of Hallmark Cards, Inc.
Object number2005.27.208
SignedAttributed on mount recto, bottom, printed in gold: "CHAs D. FREDRICKS PHOTOGRAPHER 585 AND 587 BROADWAY NEW YORK";
InscribedSubject's name on mount recto, bottom, in pencil: " [Japanese characters] Tateishi Onojiro"
Markingsnone
On View
Not on viewCollections
DescriptionOval image of man wearing a kimono; he is standing beside a chair holding a sword.Gallery LabelIn 1853, Commodore Matthew Perry visited Japan on a diplomatic mission. As a result of this effort, Japan sent delegates to the United States in 1860 to ratify the Perry treaty. One member of this delegation, a junior interpreter named Tateishi Onojiro, became a favorite of the American public. "Tommy," as he was dubbed by the press, was a "good-natured lad, showing more signs of [our] common human nature than his grave, dignified superiors…."
"The Scandal of 'Tommy'," New York Times (June 22, 1860): 4; W. G. Beasley, Japan Encounters the Barbarian (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995): 56-67; Masao Miyoshi, As We Saw Them: The First Japanese Embassy to the United States (1860) (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979): viii-ix, 43-45.
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Charles D. Fredricks
ca. 1865
2005.27.3504.A,B
