An appraisal of a portrait owned by the curator of a museum in Nagasaki City revealed that it appeared to depict Siebold, a German doctor who introduced Western medicine to Japan.
This portrait is one of the "Nagasaki Customs Maps" booklet "Nagasaki Customs Map" by Siebold's disciple and physician Noboru Ito*Teki, which depicts Nagasaki in the late Edo period, and was acquired by a curator at a secondhand bookstore in Tokyo about 1 years ago.
The model of the portrait remained unknown, but this time, after asking an expert to appraise the portrait, it was found that the model was likely to be Siebold.
According to experts, the portrait had a date that seemed to be the date of painting, but when I checked Ito's journal, it was stated that he visited Siebold's room on the same day, and it seems that he painted the portrait with Siebold as a model on that day.
Teiichi Ishiyama, a former part-time lecturer at Tokai University who is familiar with the history of Siebold, said, "There have been several portraits of Siebold so far, but I have never seen one painted by a Japan apprentice, so it is very valuable."
This portrait will be exhibited at the Nagasaki City Museum of History and Folklore from the 8th.
* "Teki" is Shinnyoni "由".