'Dinner given to the Japanese Commisioners', c 1853-1854

Dinner given to the Japanese Commisioners', c 1853-1854. Lithographed plate by Duval & Co after a drawing by Heine: 'Dinner Given to the Japanese Commisioners on Board the USSF Powhatan'. Japanese officials are the guests of the US Navy during Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry's (1794-1858) US government expedition to the Far East. The US wanted to open up trade with Japan, which had been in self-imposed isolation for almost 200 years. (The ship was named after the native American Powhatan, father of Pocahontas). The illustrations, notes and journals kept by Perry and his officers were compiled by Francis L Hawkes and published as 'Narrative of the expedition of an American squadron to the China Seas and Japan : performed in the years 1852, 1853, and 1854 É', (Washington, 1856). ©SSPL/Science Museum