Uchida Kuichi
Haru-ko, the Empress of Japan

ArtistJapanese, 1844 - 1875
CultureJapanese
Titles
  • Haru-ko, the Empress of Japan
  • [Meiji period, in Sokutai ceremonial court dress]
Date1872
PlaceJapan
MediumAlbumen silver copy print with applied color
DimensionsImage: 8 × 5 7/8 in. (20.3 × 15 cm)
Sheet: 9 5/8 × 7 1/2 in. (24.4 × 19.1 cm)
Mount: 11 × 13 3/4 in. (27.9 × 34.9 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by Joan Morgenstern in honor of Anne H. Bushman
Object number2000.432
Non exposé

Explore Further

Department
Photography
Object Type
Description

When this photograph was taken, Emperor Meiji was also portrayed in Heian-period courtly dress in a pendant portrait. The ubiquitous images of the empress in European-style dress were not issued until after 1890. Despite her archaic dress in this image, her long hair, simple eyebrows, and unblackened teeth are all representative of the new, modern models of feminine style encouraged (even enforced) during the Meiji period. Uchida, primarily known for his landscape photos, studied Rangaku (Dutch studies, a field comprising Western science) at the Dutch Medical School in Nagasaki and opened studios in Kobe, Osaka, Yokohama, and, in 1870, Tokyo.


Provenance[Gary Edwards Gallery, Washington, DC]; purchased by MFAH, 2000.

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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images from Tina Tan
Alice Austin
2018
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