JÔ GIRIN (ACT. 1779-1859) 

Opperhoofd Jan Cock Blomhoff  and wet-nurse Petronella feeding Johannes, circa 1817

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With seal: ....& Shi Kunro

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Watercolour on paper mounted on marbled paper scroll with red lacquered knobs

Painting: 78.5 x 27.5 cm

Scroll: 144 x 39 cm

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Note:
The Japanese did not allow Dutch women to stay on Deshima Island.
Only yujo, prostitutes from the licensed quarters Maruyama in Nagasaki were permitted to stay on the island. In July 1817 the Japanese saw Dutch women for the first time, when Jan Cock Blomhoff, the new Opperhoofd arrived at Deshima in the company of his wife Titia, their sick little son Johannes and the nurserymaid Petronella Munts, to the great consternation of the Japanese authorities. The women were allowed to stay, by way of a rare exception, only until Johannes would recover. The women and the child remained on Deshima
for five months and then had to return with the same ship that brought them, back to Holland. Cock Blomhoff and his wife Titia would never see each other again. In these five months, Nagasaki painters and printmakers had enough time to throw themselves into the task of illustrating the red-haired barbarian female.