Illustration of Bombardment at Weihaiwei (Ikaiei Nittō hōgeki no zu)

This 1895 triptych by Shinohara Kiyooki, held by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (accession sc220233, object 129951), depicts the Japanese naval bombardment of Weihaiwei, the decisive engagement of the First Sino-Japanese War that took place between January and February 1895. The Japanese title Ikaiei Nittō hōgeki no zu ("illustration of the Japanese bombardment at Weihaiwei") frames the action in the documentary mode characteristic of late-Meiji senso-e: the print functions as a visual news report of a specific military operation, with the Japanese fleet shelling the Chinese Beiyang Fleet trapped in the harbor and the surrounding fortifications. The Battle of Weihaiwei ended with the surrender of the Beiyang Fleet on 12 February 1895 and the suicide of its commander Admiral Ding Ruchang, an event that effectively concluded the war and led to the Treaty of Shimonoseki two months later. Kiyooki's panoramic triptych composition uses the bright aniline reds of gunfire and signal lamps against the cooler tonal field of sea and sky, in the visual register that defined the genre at its mid-1890s peak. The print is one of his most historically significant Sino-Japanese War sheets and a key record of Japan's first modern imperial victory.