Japan – A Social Meal
Yokohama: c1866. Hand-colored albumen silver print from a wet collodion glass-plate negative; 9 5/8 x 7 5/8 inches (243 x 194 mm), laid down to a wove paper matrix, as issued, trimmed to the photo sheet edge. Gentle silvering visible at the corners and lower edge; otherwise, a clean and sharp impression.
[FB in Giappone, p. 189; BNF ark:/12148/btv1b10500748x, no. 68; LL/8965].
This complex, multi-figure studio composition stands as one of Felice Beato's most ambitious staging efforts, meticulously engineered to recreate a lively tea house (ochaya) entertainment setting. Because nineteenth-century Western travelers were barred from freely entering private or exclusive Japanese establishments, Beato manufactured this festive tableau inside his Yokohama studio to satisfy the foreign market's deep curiosity regarding traditional nightlife and geisha culture.
The carefully choreographed scene features a mix of ten performers interacting around a central banquet tray laid out with sake cups. Beato has intricately directed a theatrical narrative: a seated patron balances a sake cup while looking up at a dynamic standing performer holding a wide-open folding fan (ōgi), while another entertainer gestures playfully with raised hands. To ground the scene in classical tea house arts, a entertainer on the far right simulates playing a long-necked koto (zither), while her companion cradles a shamisen (lute). Positioned against an immense, hand-painted folding screen (byōbu) depicting a gnarled pine tree—a classical backdrop choice mimicking Edo-period ukiyo-e theater prints—this lot exemplifies the brilliant commercial artifice that defined early Yokohama-shashin (tourist photography).
Felice Beato (1832–1909) was a pioneering British-Italian photographer and one of the world's first global photojournalists, renowned for capturing early conflict photography across Asia and Europe. He is widely celebrated for establishing a prolific studio in Yokohama, where his beautifully composed and hand-colored portraits became the definitive visual record of late-Edo and early Meiji-era Japan.
To cater to Western fascination with a rapidly modernizing Japan, Beato established rigorous and inventive production systems inside his studio:
• Wet Collodion Process: Beato captured his images using wet collodion glass-plate negatives. This required coating, sensitizing, exposing, and developing the glass plate while it was still wet. Because the chemical emulsion dried incredibly quickly outdoors in the heat, creating scenes inside the controlled environment of his studio allowed for flawless precision and razor-sharp detail.
• Chemical Tone Tints: Before any paint ever touched the image, Beato manipulated the chemistry during the print development phase. By adding compounds that reacted deliberately with the egg-white mixture of the albumen paper, he achieved deep, velvety shades of sepia, purple, and brown directly in the background and drapery shadow tones.
• Ukiyo-e Hand-Coloring Systems: One of Beato’s greatest legacies was the inclusion of local watercolorists. While his early business partner, British artist Charles Wirgman, initially painted the prints, Beato quickly realized the potential of hiring professional Japanese woodblock print colorists. He built a division of master tinters who applied vibrant, translucent watercolors to highlight key features like sash patterns, kimono textiles, and background foliage—bringing unmatched life and luxury to a monochrome photograph.
Condition: Near fine.
Item number: 2652
Price: $3,500.00
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