A Foreign Residence in Yokohama

Utagawa Yoshikazu

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This fanciful triptych depicts Westerners enjoying a banquet at a merchant’s private residence in the foreign settlement of Yokohama. The title refers to the residence as a yashiki, a term usually reserved for a wealthy samurai’s mansion. Yoshikazu’s rendering includes Yokohama Harbor in the background, while the interior shows a lavishly decorated home with more than a dozen men, women, and children, including a man playing a cello and another getting a shave. The house is decorated with Western accessories such as a chandelier, carpet, grand mirror, glass windows, and dining-room table laden with food and drink and people seated on chairs. The kitchen features a woodburning stove.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.

Metropolitan Museum of Art