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Lot Essay
For an example in the Metropolitan Museum of Art see Julia Meech-Pekarik, The World of the Meiji Print (New York and Tokyo: Weatherhill, 1986), pl. 3.
In his balloon print Miyasaki Gengyo recreates an event that took place in Philadelphia about six months earlier. On June 14, 1860, the first Japanese embassy to America had paid a visit to the Philadelphia Gas Works to witness the ascent of two large gas balloons displaying the flags of the United States, Japan and Great Britain. A crowd of 5,000 persons was on hand for the event, which was intended to celebrate the opening of Japan. One of the members of the embassy illustrated his diary, published in Japan in 1861, with a drawing of two American gentlemen watching Professor T.S.C Lowe of New York ascending in the Constitution. The drawing was cleverly utilized by the Yokohama print artist. Notwithstanding the awkward attempts at modeling and linear perspective, which are most likely based on imported copperplate engravings, the hieratic composition and brilliant coloring lend this work a naive charm. The first balloon voyages in Japan took place in 1872, when three navy balloons were sent up in a trial flight at Tsukiji in Tokyo.
In his balloon print Miyasaki Gengyo recreates an event that took place in Philadelphia about six months earlier. On June 14, 1860, the first Japanese embassy to America had paid a visit to the Philadelphia Gas Works to witness the ascent of two large gas balloons displaying the flags of the United States, Japan and Great Britain. A crowd of 5,000 persons was on hand for the event, which was intended to celebrate the opening of Japan. One of the members of the embassy illustrated his diary, published in Japan in 1861, with a drawing of two American gentlemen watching Professor T.S.C Lowe of New York ascending in the Constitution. The drawing was cleverly utilized by the Yokohama print artist. Notwithstanding the awkward attempts at modeling and linear perspective, which are most likely based on imported copperplate engravings, the hieratic composition and brilliant coloring lend this work a naive charm. The first balloon voyages in Japan took place in 1872, when three navy balloons were sent up in a trial flight at Tsukiji in Tokyo.