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Namban (“Southern Barbarians” in Japan)
Artist / Origin: Kano School, Japan
Region: East Asia
Date: Edo period, 17th century
Period: 1400 CE – 1800 CE
Material: Ink, color, and gold on paper
Medium: Painting
Dimensions: H: 60 ¼ in. (153 cm.), W: 130 ½ in. (331 cm).
Location: The Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
Credit: Courtesy of the Freer Gallery or Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
Saltcellar with Portuguese Figures
Artist / Origin: Edo artist, Court of Benin, Nigeria
Region: Africa
Date: 15th–16th century
Period: 1400 CE – 1800 CE
Material: Ivory
Medium: Sculpture
Dimensions: H: 7 ½ in. (19.1 cm.)
Location: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit: The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Photo by Max Yawney
Many cultures have looked to artistic representation as a means of learning about foreigners, coming to terms with the presence of outsiders in their own societies, and defining their relationships with people different from themselves. Sometimes this has resulted in costume books like those produced by Venetians in the Islamic world during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Other times, it has led to the depiction of foreigners in decorative arts or narrative scenes. In their art, both the Japanese painter of the namban screen and the creator of the Benin saltcellar made representational decisions that illuminate the way they perceived the European merchants who had become constant fixtures in their communities.