Ema" votive offering. Japan, XVI-XVII centuries (Edo period).

Ema" votive offering. Japan, XVI-XVII centuries (Edo period).
Pigments on wood.
Provenance: Pardo-Mitsunaga Collection.
With label on the back.
Piece reproduced in the catalog of the exhibition "The beauty of the ephemeral. Japanese art through the collections of Daniel Buján and Pardo-Mitsunaga", held at the Museo do Mar de Galicia (Vigo), November 2025-January 2026.
It presents small losses and rubbing on the edges of the board, consistent with its age.
Measurements: 53 × 81.5 cm; 61 × 94 cm (frame).

This Japanese votive offering, known as ema, represents an exceptional scene: a retinue of Portuguese merchants in Japan, testimony to the early contact between Europe and the Japanese archipelago during the 16th and 17th centuries. The figures, dressed in Western garb - wide-brimmed hats, cloaks, doublets and puffy tights - contrast with the Japanese architecture and environment that structure the scene.

The ema were votive tablets that were hung in temples and shrines to request divine protection, prosperity or success, especially in commercial activities. In this context, the work reflects the importance of international trade and the desire for good fortune in business, at a time when relations with Portuguese merchants played an important role in the introduction of new products, ideas and technologies in Japan.

The composition is developed in a narrative form, with a markedly popular and descriptive character. The use of flat and vivid pigments, together with the stylization of the figures, refers to the Japanese pictorial tradition of the time. The presence of inscriptions and seals on the reverse reinforces its devotional and documentary character.

It is a piece of great historical and cultural interest, as it illustrates the so-called Nanban ("southern barbarians") period, the name by which the Japanese designated the European traders and missionaries who arrived by sea. This panel is therefore a valuable visual testimony of the exchanges between East and West in the early Modern Age.