Portrait of Tokugawa Akitake, the younger half-brother of the Japanese Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu.
Aged only 14 years, Tokugawa Akitake led the Japanese delegation to the 1867 World Fair in Paris, where Japan had its own pavilion. He was designated as special emissary to France and head of the Japanese delegation to the Paris exhibition on November 28, 1866. The mission left Yokohama on January 11, 1867, and reached Paris two months later. The fair aroused considerable interest in Japan, and allowed many visitors to come in contact with Japanese art and techniques.
