Netherlands/Japan: Titia Bergsma, wife of Jan Cock Blomhoff (5 August 1779 - 15 August 1853), with their son Jantje at her side. Next to her is their Dutch wetnurse Petronella Munts. Detail of silk painting by Ishizaki Yushi (1768- 25 March 1846), 1817. Jan Cock Blomhoff was director ('opperhoofd') of Dejima, the Dutch trading colony in the harbour of Nagasaki (r. 1817-1824). During his first stay on the island (1809-1813) he had an affair with a Japanese woman and the couple had a child, which died in 1813.


Jan Cock Blomhoff (Amsterdam, 5 August 1779 – Amersfoort, 15 August 1853) was director ('opperhoofd') of Dejima, the Dutch trading colony in the harbour of Nagasaki, Japan, 1817 - 1824. During his first stay on the island (1809–1813) he had an affair with a Japanese woman and the couple had a child, which died in 1813. When he arrived in Dejima for the second time in August 1817 he was accompanied by his wife Titia Bergsma, whom he had married in 1815, his son Johannes, and Petronella Munts, a Dutch wetnurse and an Indonesian maid. The ladies and the little boy were not allowed to stay. In the short time they stayed there, till December 1817, they were often drawn by artists who had only ever seen Japanese women. 500 hundred different prints were made and widely circulated throughout the country.


Size: 4034px × 4319px
Photo credit: © Pictures From History / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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