Label Text:
This triptych is signed at lower-right of the right panel "Ōju Nitei e" ('a picture by Nitei by special request') with accompanying artist's seal, which also reads "Nitei." The title of the picture is printed in the floral cartouche at upper-right. This triptych is one of a number of unserialized prints of the Russo-Japanese War issued in 1904 by Ōmiya Kyūjirō, of the firm Kiyūdō. The publisher's seal, at lower-left of the left panel, bears the publisher's family name, Sawa Kyūjirō (occasionally mistranslated as Sawa Hisajirō), which is consistent with his seal designs following 1876. The seal also identifies the year of publication as Meiji 37 (1904).
This scene depicts one of the opening battles of the Russo-Japanese War, the Battle of Chemulpo Bay (now known as Incheon Harbor). Adding to the purported veracity of the image, Nitei has identified the two foreign battleships as the Varyag and the Korietz. Though Nitei shows the Varyag being attacked, it did not ultimately sink. The Varyag was later salvaged and put into use by the Japanese Imperial Navy under the new name of Soya.
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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=AC+2001.633.1-.3 |
