Posted by Noel Chiappa (98.166.150.196) on February 23, 2011 at 23:07:23:
In Reply to: Unknown triptych posted by belsipe on February 23, 2011 at 20:10:16:
"which appears to me to have been made around 1880"
That form of censor seal (with the 'aratame' and year and month in a circle) was used between 1859 and 1872. Alas, I can't make out the year character for sure - my best guess is 'dog', which would make it 1863.
That would be consistent with the image: Perry's visit to Japan was in 1853, and the Japanese started buying modern ships (the ship shown here is flying a Japanese flag) soon after (1855 for the first IJN ship purchased from the West).
Not much, but it's a start!
Noel