Small Card Decorated with Landscape Motifs (recto) and Stylized Chrysanthemums (verso)

Created for use as calling cards, place cards, or menu cards, these charming items indicate how the “Japan craze” permeated all facets of artistic production. Grant La Farge’s familiarity with Japanese motifs (such as Mount Fuji, chrysanthemums, and bamboo shoots) undoubtedly came from his family. His father, the artist John La Farge, embraced Japanese aesthetics in his own art and also collected and published widely on Japanese art; Grant La Farge’s mother, Margaret, was the grandniece of Commodore Matthew Perry.