[Japan] Nagasaki school, early 19th century. "Orandajin Geka Ryoji no Zu"

(Dutch surgery in Nagasaki, Japan). Stencil col. woodblock print, sheet size 31.3 x 21.7 cm, publisher unknown, ca. 1810-1815. A few sm. holes and tiny missing parts, centre fold and creases, remnants of former mount verso, col. sl. faded.

Provenance: From the collections of J.C. Pabst (1873-1942) and Charles Boxer (1904-2000). Very interesting and rare print, depicting the amputation of an arm of a European. The surgeon is accompanied by two assistants, displayed on a table in the background are a box w. medicine bottles (w. initials V.H. on label), a decanter, top hat and a pair of scissors. References: Charles Boxer, Jan Compagnie in Japan (2nd ed. 1950), p. 68 illustration of this copy; Blussé, Remmelink and Smits, Bridging the Divide, p.108; Through Closed Doors, p. 46: Comp. Mody, Nagasaki colour prints pl. 108 and no. 12, discussing the morbid fascination for this subject matter shown by both the artist and his audience; Van Gulik, Dutch Surgery in Japan, in Red-Hair Medicine: Dutch-Japanese Medical Relations, ed. Beukers et al., p. 37-50. The Portuguese were the first to introduce Western surgery to Japan in the 16th century. Following the expulsion of the Portuguese, the Dutch became the sole European nation permitted to trade with Japan. At Desjima in Nagasaki Bay, Dutch East India Company surgeons started working, leading to several Japanese schools of surgery based on European methods. "This aspect of Western medicine, known as (...) 'Surgery of the Red-Haired', has had a profound effect on the development of surgical practice in Japan” (Van Gulik).