Commodore Perry Japan Expedition Print LEW CHEW 1856 Colored Lithograph Heine

Antique, Original 1856 Lithograph Print

‘LEW CHEW’

COMMODORE PERRY JAPAN EXPEDITION

Mounted on board

Title of print: LEW CHEW

This is an original antique 1856 lithograph print from the book ‘NARRATIVE OF THE EXPEDITION OF AN AMERICAN SQUADRON TO THE CHINA SEAS AND JAPAN PERFORMED IN THE YEARS1852, 1853, AND 1854, UNDER THE COMMAND OF COMMODORE M. C. PERRY, UNITED STATES NAVY’, published by the GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

Drawn from nature by Heine, Figures by Brown.

Lithograpgh by: T. Sinclair's lith, Philada.

Page size 8 1/2" x 11 1/4”.

Board measures 13 1/2” x 10 1/2”

Printed on heavy stock paper, mounted on board.

Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry of the United States Navy led a squadron of warships to Japan in 1853, a show of force that was designed to convince the Japanese emperor to open his nation to trade and diplomatic relations with the United States. Perry's mission achieved its goal when he returned to one year later with a larger fleet; on March 31, 1854 near Yokohama the Shogunate signed the US - Japan Treaty of Kanagawa.

Perry's expedition included scientists, an expert on Japanese culture, the German-born artist William Heine, and the daguerreotypist Eliphalet Brown, Jr., the first American photographer in Japan. Brown reportedly made around 400 daguerreotypes on the expedition; only a handful are believed to have survived. Because there was no practical method for duplicating large quantities of daguerreotypes, Brown's images were reproduced in the form of lithographs, often folded into compositions sketched on the scene by Heine. These lithographs, in turn, were published by the U.S. Government in a three-volume set, Narrative of the Expedition of an American Squadron to the China Seas and Japan, Performed in the Years 1852, 1853, and 1854, under the Command of Commodore M.C. Perry, United States Navy (Washington, D.C., 1856-8.)

The example shown here depicts a scene at Lew Chew (now Okinawa), an island that Perry used as a base before sailing into Japanese waters.

About Lithographer:

Thomas S. Sinclair (ca. 1805-1881): was born around 1805 in the Orkney Islands. He studied lithography in Edinburgh, Scotland and other cities in Europe. By 1833 Sinclair was in Philadelphia where he drew a dancing scene for the firm of Kennedy & Lucas before the company went out of business that same year. Sinclair acquired the press of John Collins in 1838 and started his own firm at 79 South Third Street. Thomas S. Sinclair was among the first Philadelphia lithographers to experiment with color lithography. He made his first tinted lithograph in 1843 and his skill advanced enough in the following years that he won a silver medal for color lithography at the Franklin Institute's exhibition in 1848. Sinclair moved his operation to a building owned by the Public Ledger at101 Chestnut Street (now 311) in 1849. From 1854 to 1859 Sinclair was joined in the firm of Thomas Sinclair & Co. by his brother, William B. Sinclair. Later Sinclair's son would work with his father and the firm's name was changed to Thomas Sinclair & Son. Thomas S. Sinclair died in Philadelphia in 1881.

CONDITION:

Excellent condition. Page is mounted on board neatly, with board frame. A few minor foxing spots. Colors in tact. See photos for details.

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