$500–$4,000. Common subjects: $500–$1,500. Key value factors: As an early sosaku-hanga pioneer, Kawakami's prints have historical significance. His distinctive graphic style is collected.
"Trader Showing Mirror at Nagasaki" depicts a scene of cross-cultural commercial exchange in miniature: a trader — likely Portuguese or Dutch — displaying a Western mirror to Japanese onlookers, the mirror being one of the most sought-after trade goods from Europe in the early contact period. Mirrors of Western manufacture — glass-backed rather than the traditional polished metal mirrors of Japan — were objects of wonder and desire. Kawakami renders this transaction with characteristic warmth: the moment when Japan looked at itself through a foreign technology.
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Trader showing mirror at Nagasaki was created by Sumio Kawakami (川上澄生).
Trader showing mirror at Nagasaki depicts figures, market scenes, and travel scenes, set at Nagasaki.
