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Huang Goodman · Art Forgotten

Art Forgotten

Art from public museum collections. A mismatched real Japanese law, and some other factoids.

Every object, image and description comes from the museum's own catalogue record, and every object links to its original. Japanese records are machine-translated into English; the museum's Japanese is kept beside the translation because it is the authoritative form. Each law carries its official number and links to e-Gov 法令検索, the Japanese government's statute database.

Fireworks at Ryōgoku, from the series One Hundred Views of Famous Places in Edo
{Fireworks at Ryōgoku, from the series One Hundred Views of Famous Places in Edo · Utagawa Hiroshige (Japanese, 1797–1858) · 1858 · Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0}

The Ryōgoku Bridge, a repeated subject of Hiroshige’s prints, spanned the Sumida River connecting bustling Edo (present-day Tokyo) neighborhoods. Here, Hiroshige devoted nearly half the composition to the night sky glittering with fireworks. Restaurants and other businesses along the riverbank frequently sponsored these dazzling displays during the 1850s. The pyrotechnics drew large crowds, who gathered atop the bridge, along the shore, in teashops, and on rented pleasure boats to enjoy the show.

View the original at Cleveland Museum of Art →
The law
古物営業法
Antique Dealings Act
昭和二十四年法律第百八号 · Act No. 108 of 1949

Article 1 states the purpose plainly: prevent trade in stolen goods, find them quickly, and speed the recovery of victims. Article 2 then defines a used article to include, in the same breath, art objects held for appreciation. Dealing in them requires a licence.

The cool part. Article 16 requires a dealer to record every transaction: the date, the item and quantity, its distinguishing features, and the address, name, occupation and age of the other party. Article 15 requires that a dealer who suspects an item is stolen report it to a police officer immediately. So the antique trade runs on a register the police may read, and a painting becomes a second-hand article the moment it has been used once.

Verify at e-Gov 法令検索 →

Use it The border is the idea. Use it as an edge treatment and leave the centre empty.

Description source: museum curator text — not generated