Hanging Scroll of American Ship The Manhattan captained by Mercator Cooper
[Japan] A wonderful depiction of the Manhattan, the first American vessel permitted to land shipwrecked Japanese sailors at Uraga, near Tokyo (then named Edo). The Manhattan was a whaling ship and found 11 Japanese sailors on Tori-shima, in the Izu islands about 600km south of Tokyo, who had apparently been stuck on the island for months. Captain Mercator Cooper (1803-72) convinced the sailors he could take them to Edo and on the way he came across a stranded vessel on the ocean and picked up another 11 Japanese sailors. Cooper managed to get permission to return the sailors and the Japanese authorities arranged for provisions to be delivered to the ship, but warned them never to return to Japan, even if the purpose was to return castaways. Prior to Perry's visits to Japan in 1853 anfd 1854, any shipwrecked Japanese sailors outside Japan risked execution if they tried to return due to the country's strict 'sakoku' (closed country) policy.
The illustration mentions the year of 1845 and the month of March that the ship visited. We can see the name 'New York' on the rear of the vessel and what may well be the word 'Manhattan' before that (but the letters are garbled most likely because the artist had no idea of their meaning). At lower right we see mention of '22 men' so this would be the returned Japanese sailors. A fascinating, contemporary, manuscript illustration mounted on a more recent hanging scroll. The image was probably originally folded and inside an envelope (the front portion of the envelope has been nicely mounted to the left of the illustration).
Artist unknown. Bakumatsu era (c.1850s).
Ship image approx. 39 x 29.5cm. Hanging scroll 138 x 65.5cm.
In very good condition with only a few minor marks and age wear. Would display very nicely. Housed in recent, custom-made box. m36081688
