Ambrotype and cyanotype photo of S. Hideshima Taken in Osaka by Futaba Kenzaburo
[Japan] An ambrotype photo of a man with two swords along with a matching cyanotype photo of the same man. The captions lead to more questions than answers in that the writing inside the wooden box of the ambrotype reads, 'Meiji gannen [1868] 6th month, 8th day. Kuromon-cho 5 cho, Sugiura Shichi xx ro aged 28'. Kuromon-cho being an address and Sugiura the name of the sitter. However, the cyanotype has the name S. Hideshima written on the mount and also the name of a French person on the rear ('French Berudou' [Verdoux? Verdeau? Bardou? or the place Berdoues?]), so it is possible the cyanotype was given to a person named S. Hideshima. The ambrotype has the studio stamp of the Osaka-based photographer, Futaba Kenzaburo, of whom very little is known. There is an old piece of paper that presumably contained the cyanotype and it reads in Japanese, 'Taken in Tokyo in 1865. Photographer unknown.' Also, strangely, the ambrotype has the words 'mukashi men' written in Romaji above the man's head and it is unknown what this refers to. 'Mukashi' means 'old days' or 'long ago' and 'men' can mean 'face', so perhaps it was someone's effort to explain that this is what a person of days past looked like. Anyway, it is very unusual for such writing to be written on a glass ambrotype itself.
Ambrotype 8.9 x 6.5cm. Cyanotype 6.3 x 5.2cm.
Both in quite good condition. The ambrotype has some minor age wear, a few marks, and is a bit darkened at the top. The image is clear and contrast is good. The cyanotype has age wear and is a bit darkened p37031824
