Baron Raimund von Stillfried’s Daibutsu Carte de visite

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Early Photographic Souvenirs: When Baron Raimund von Stillfried (1839–1911) opened his Yokohama studio in 1871, globe-trotting was becoming the rage among wealthy elite. This phenomenon was reflected in Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days, published in 1873.

A decade earlier, the small format carte-de-visite had emerged as one of the most popular products of commercial photography studios. Originally used as inexpensive family portraits carried in jacket pockets, they soon turned into common tourist souvenirs.

The 19th century globe-trotting circuit included port in Yokohama, the first landfall as you came west across the Pacific. Stillfried’s souvenir photo bears a handwritten note:
This is Diaboots
The Japanese God
what they worship
he is a big size

“Diaboots” refers to Daibutsu.

Stillfried became well known for his Japanese landscapes, a genre that was also popular among foreign globe-trotters.He would carefully frame Japanese people into his shots to underscore elements of foreignness.

Stillfried also published larger format prints bound into albums. An early exemplar from 1872, titled Views and Costumes of Japan, is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, viewable here: https://tinyurl.com/yuuf52u9.

The Buddhas in the West Material Archive is a digital scholarship project that catalogues artifacts depicting Buddhist material culture for Western audiences. It’s comprised of prints, photos, and an assortment of ephemera and other objects. For a brief introduction to this archive, visit the main Buddhas in the West project page.

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