(PERRY -- U.S./JAPANESE DIPLOMACY.) Reconnoissance of the Anchorage of Ura-Ga & Reception Bay,on the West Side of the Entrance of Jeddo Bay, Island of Niphon, Japan. Made by Order of Commo: M.C. Perry, Comd'g U.S. Naval Forces E. India, China & Japan Seas. Pen and ink on thin vellum mounted to contemporary silk backing with green selvage. 26x20 inches overall; moderate foxing and soft creases, scattered tack holes and edge abrasions. Np, September 1853
The first chart of the first American delegation to attempt an establishment of commercial relations between the United States and Japan.
U.S. Naval Commodore Matthew Perry's aggressive initial visit to Japan in July of 1853 did not result in immediate diplomacy, nevertheless, he was permitted to present a letter from President Millard Fillmore requesting an agreement with the Shogunate government. The American squadron returned the following year (again rather forcefully) and in March of 1854 the Treaty of Kanagawa was administratively signed into order. This accord marked the opening of commercial trade between the United States and shortly thereafter the rest of the western world - an important beginning of Japan's economic modernization following a 200-year period of sovereign isolation.
The present chart is an official manuscript establishing Perry's lead steamships Susquehanna and Mississippi anchored in Tokyo Bay off the coast of the Miura Peninsula at what is labeled the "Place of Reception". The map is detailed with Japanese military fortifications, depth soundings, and two fine panoramic vignettes: "View of Ura-Ga Harbor from Monument Point" and "View from Morrison Bluff of the Landing in Reception Bay July 14th 1853".
A virtually identical example of the chart is held at the U.S. National Archives (https://catalog.archives.gov/id/102278572). Beneath the lower neatline of our copy is written in a tiny hand "Traced by H. Patterson Sep. 5 1853"; however, by close comparison each is so skillfully faithful to the other that it is challenging to argue that one copy necessarily served as a master to its sister. On our verso we find "Mississippi" written in contemporary ink, an indication this chart was prepared to be that ship's copy. At the time of this cataloging it has been mused, but unconfirmed, that the institutional copy may have been attached to Perry's other paddle frigate, the Susquehanna.
Hamilton Patterson was an assistant draughtsman working under the official artist of the expedition, William Heine, whose (copied?) signature appears at the lower left view in each of the companion renderings.
