МАЭ № 13-34/23

A Doctor Makes a Deathbed Visit. Series “the Life of the Japanese”.

Japanese

1820-s

silk textile, Japanese watercolours, ink, Japanese washigami paper, glue

35.4 x 47.0

The list shows a visit of a doctor to a dying old man, who sits on his futon bed, being supported by one of the servants. A doctor examines his pulse. A son of the moribund man sits behind a screen, looking through some book (a medical tractate?) and talking to a doctor’s assistant, who is preparing medicines. A kusuri-ire medicine chest is beside him. At the background we see a women (daughter –in-law?) serving some tea. An iris, a morning-glory (asagao) and a blossoming nanten (Nandina domestica Thunb) tree indicate the season: early summer.

Ethnographic drawing