View of Deshima in Nagasaki Bay' This folding screen depicts Nagasaki bay during the summer months, with a large variety of ships on the water. A Dutch merchant ship is anchored for the trading season. The painting mainly shows the fan-shaped Dutch trading post Deshima and the Chinese compound Tōjin yashiki, rather than the city itself. The bird’s-eye view is adapted in such a way that Deshima is positioned more prominently than was actually the case. Given this, and with the large number of Dutch flags, it is almost certain that a wealthy resident of Deshima commissioned this screen. This folding screen is the only known example from the oeuvre of the Japanese artist Kawahara Keiga (c. 1786-c. 1860). Keiga played a unique role in the first half of the nineteenth century as the official painter assigned to the Dutch. In that position, he also studied Western artistic styles, including linear perspective. Using this combination of Japanese and Western techniques, he captured Japan’s nature and culture colourfully and highly detailed images that were often commissioned by collectors of Japanese artefacts, such as the physician Dr. Philipp Franz von Siebold, who lived at Deshima between 1823 and 1829. From right to left, the following details can be viewed on the screen: Signature ‘Keiga’ in Japanese characters, and red seal giving his common name ‘Tojosky’ in Latin script. Japanese ship under Dutch flag. This ship was used to deliver gifts to the shogun on the occasion of the court journey to Edo (today’s Tokyo). The Dutch merchant ship Marij en Hillegonda which sailed to Japan just once, in 1836. The artificial island of Deshima, the location of the Dutch trading post. For more than 200 years, the Dutch were the only Europeans with permission to trade in Japan. Two Chinese junks used for trading. They probably sailed from Nanjing, on the East-Chinese coast. The fenced Chinese compound Tōjin yashiki. The adjacent rectangular island was used for storing merchandise.