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It is at a glance a masterpiece of the Ethnology Museum of Leiden: a screen of the Japanese artist Kawahara Keiga, which no one could suspect the existence. "It's really a key element," said conservative Daan Kok. "This links our entire collection and we can associate almost all our Japanese collection."
The work of about 1836, consisting of eight silk panels, is almost 5 meters long. The screen shows Nagasaki Bay with the Dutch shopping island Deshima, the Marij and Hillegonda sailboat and the Chinese district of the Japanese city.
Size alone surprised Kok. "We do not know any other screen, the biggest we know of him is about 80 by 60 centimeters.This folding screen was a tour de force, it is unique."
Found during dinner
The owners want to remain anonymous. Kok would like to reveal that a family had owned it for at least 100 years and the owners never imagined that they had a chef in their home. "I can imagine that the early 20th century was nothing more than a curiosity, we did not know much about this artist, and long time was not the link with Keiga."
It changed during a dinner. "They had someone to eat who was interested in Japan and showed him, he knew right away that it was not just a screen and contacted an expert to start the ball."
"I There was no Keiga screens at all." After going home, I quickly made an appointment and I fell back abruptly from what we have seen. "
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