Portrait of an elderly man

Category

Library Item

Item no

15164

Title

Portrait of an elderly man

Description

An elderly Japanese man with a white beard and topknot poses for a portrait. He is wearing a blue robe.

Artist / maker

von Stillfried-Ratenicz, Franz

Date

1881

Size

14 x 9.5 cm

Type

Photograph

Location

Art and Design Library

This item is part of a collection of prints from the studio of Baron Franz von Stillfried-Ratenicz, an Austrian photographer practising in Japan in the late 1870's. Von Stillfried ran a studio in Yokohama at the same time as his brother Raimund, who was also known as 'Baron Stillfried'. This caused a great deal of confusion with the local residents and visitors to Japan in the Meiji Period, and with art historians today.

This album, which dates from 1879-83, comprises 67 separate mounted prints presented in a lacquerware box. Albums of this kind were popular among foreign tourists, who frequently selected the individual prints they wished to include from the studio's collection. Many of these albumen prints were hand tinted. This was a laborious process for which von Stillfried employed, at the height of his success, a substantial number of Japanese workers.

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Related subjects

Clothing and dress > Accessories > Hairstyles

People > Adults > Men

Places > Asia > Japan