Description
From an album by James Henry Butt (1844-1936) containing 51 watercolour drawings, 50 mounted on separate pages, with one loose item and three blank sheets. They are mainly in chronological order and were presumably mounted in the album and captioned later, generally in pencil on the album page below the image, though some have monograph signatures, brief inscriptions and dates. The opening view of Cape Town is followed by 45 Eastern ones, mostly coastal, with two figure studies of Japanese girls. The last two drawings are an undated view of Posillipo, near Naples and one of Start Point, Devon, the latter made in August 1870 before Butt's next (home) posting in May 1871. He made all the others while second and subsequently third lieutenant of HMS 'Sylvia', survey ship, Commander Edward Wolfe Brooker (1827-70), which sailed for the China Station in late 1866 via Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town and the Andaman Islands to undertake hydrographic work mainly in southern and western Japan. No. 44 of 51. inscribed by the artist on the album page, 'Oshima, S. coast of Japan' and dated 1/70: also, 'Oshima' on the bottom of the drawing. The view appears to be of wooded rocks off Oshima island, which lies south of Tokyo. A steamer, possibly Butt's ship 'Sylvia' though this is uncertain, lies in the distance at anchor between the rocky islets, with two small boats under sail to the right.
Image Licence
CC BY-NC-ND
Image Credit
© National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London
Location
Izu Oshima, Japan
Country
Japan
Medium
Watercolour
Tags
Category
Landscapes & Seascapes
