Placa - Adoração dos Magos

Plaque (The Adoration of the Magi)
Manila, The Philippines
Early 17th century
Ivory
Dim.: 20,5 x 12,0 cm; 22,5 x 13,5 cm (frame)

Placa - Adoração dos Magos
Filipinas, Manila; século XVII (inícios)
Marfim entalhado
Dim.: 20,5 x 12,0 cm; C/ moldura: 22,5 x 13,5 cm

This rare ivory plaque, depicting The Adoration of the Magi (Matthew 2:1-12) and intended for private worship, was finely carved by Chinese craftsmen in Manila, in the Philippines. The plaque, carved from a single transversally cut section of elephant tusk, is remarkable for its sculptural and modelling quality, as well as for its fine polished surface .
While the printed source from which it was replicated has yet to be identified, given the vast corpus of similar imagery produced within this chronology, its composition is analogous to an engraving by the Netherlandish artist Hendrik Goltzius (1558-1617), published in 1594 as part of a set on The Life of the Virgin. A copy of this print can be seen in The British Museum collection (inv. 1958,0712.14).
Evident from the characteristic treatment of the clouds, the almond shaped eyes of the figures - featuring the quintessential eyelid fold -, and the drapery geometric schematization, is the carver’s Chinese origin. Additionally, the gabled panel top points to it being the central panel of a folding triptych, of which the wings have been lost.
Such plaques, of complex religious iconography, were conceived as visual aids for devotional practices, and their production promoted by the Society of Jesus priests in their missionary activities in Asia, as well as for exporting, particularly to Central and South America and the Iberian Peninsula .
Recent archaeological evidence, particularly from the shipwreck of the Manila galleon Santa Margarita (1601), sunken off the Mariana islands (Ladrones), has yielded abundant data on the chronology and production of such ivories, which, made in early-17th century Philippines by Chinese and Filipino master carvers, predate by several decades the Goan ivory carving production .

Hugo Miguel Crespo
Centre for History, University of Lisbon

Bibliography:

BAILEY, Gauvin Alexander, “Translation and metamorphosis in the Catholic Ivories of China, Japan and the Philippines, 1561-1800”, in Nuno Vassallo e Silva (ed.), Ivories in the Portuguese Empire, Lisboa, Scribe, 2013, pp. 233-290.

CHONG, Alan, “Christian ivories by Chinese artists. Macau, the Philippines, and elsewhere, late 16th and 17th centuries”, in Alan Chong (ed.), Christianity in Asia. Sacred art and visual splendour (cat.), Singapore, Asian Civilisations Museum, 2016, pp. 204-207.

CRESPO, Hugo Miguel (ed.), The Art of Collecting. Lisbon, Europe and the Early Modern World (1500-1800), Lisboa, AR-PAB, 2019.

ESTELLA MARCOS, Margarita, Marfiles de las provincias ultramarinas orientales de España y Portugal, Ciudad de México, Espejo de Obsidiana, 2010.

TRUSTED, Marjorie, “Propaganda and Luxury: Small-scale Baroque Sculptures in Viceregal America and the Philippines”, in Donna Pierce, Ronald Osaka (eds.), Asia and Spanish America. Trans-Pacific Artistic and Cultural Exchange, 1500-1850, Denver, Denver Art Museum, 2009, pp. 151-163.

TRUSTED, Marjorie, “Survivors of a Shipwreck: Ivories from a Manila Galleon of 1601”, Hispanic Research Journal, 14.5, 2013, pp. 446-462.

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Rara placa religiosa para devoção privada representando Adoração dos Magos (Mateus 2: 1-12), finamente entalhada em marfim por artífices chineses nas Filipinas (Manila). Entalhada de uma única secção transversal de marfim de elefante, é extraordinária pela qualidade do entalhe, modelado e fino polimento final.
Embora a sua fonte gravada, certamente tomada como modelo, não tenha sido ainda identificada, dado o enorme corpus destas representações para esta cronologia, a presente placa apresenta grandes similitudes com uma composição do artista neerlandês Hendrik Goltzius (1558-1617), publicada em 1594 e parte de uma série sobre a Vida da Virgem. Um exemplar desta gravura pertence à colecção do British Museum, Londres (inv. 1958,0712.14).
A origem chinesa do entalhador é visível no tratamento típico das nuvens, no rasgamento dos olhos amendoados e na esquematização geométrica dos panejamentos, enquanto a forma acuminada da placa permite supor tratar-se do painel central de um tríptico cujos volantes se perderam.
Esta e outras placas semelhantes de complexa iconografia religiosa foram concebidas enquanto suporte visual para práticas devocionais, tais como incentivadas pelos jesuítas na Ásia no seu esforço missionário e também como objecto para exportação em particular para a América Central e do Sul e para a Península Ibérica.
Escavações arqueológicas recentes, nomeadamente o do naufrágio de um galeão de Manila, o Santa Margarita (1601) junto às Ilhas Marianas (Ladrones) oferecem uma riqueza de informações sobre a cronologia e produção de esculturas devocionais em marfim feitas por mestres entalhadores chineses e filipinos nas Filipinas nos inícios do século XVII, produção que antecede em várias décadas a produção de escultura ebúrnea em Goa.

Hugo Miguel Crespo
Centro de História, Universidade de Lisboa

Bibliografia:

BAILEY, Gauvin Alexander, “Trasladação e Metamorfose dos Marfins Católicos da China, Japão e Filipinas, 1561-1800”, in Nuno Vassallo e Silva (ed.), Marfins no Império Português, Lisboa, Scribe, 2013, pp. 233-290.

CHONG, Alan, “Christian ivories by Chinese artists. Macau, the Philippines, and elsewhere, late 16th and 17th centuries”, in Alan Chong (ed.), Christianity in Asia. Sacred art and visual splendour (cat.), Singapore, Asian Civilisations Museum, 2016, pp. 204-207.

CRESPO, Hugo Miguel (ed.), A Arte de Coleccionar. Lisboa, a Europa e o Mundo na Época Moderna (1500-1800), Lisboa, AR-PAB, 2019.

ESTELLA MARCOS, Margarita, Marfiles de las provincias ultramarinas orientales de España y Portugal, Ciudad de México, Espejo de Obsidiana, 2010.

TRUSTED, Marjorie, “Propaganda an Luxury: Small-scale Baroque Sculptures in Viceregal America and the Philippines”, in Donna Pierce, Ronald Osaka (eds.), Asia and Spanish America. Trans-Pacific Artistic and Cultural Exchange, 1500-1850, Denver, Denver Art Museum, 2009, pp. 151-163.

TRUSTED, Marjorie, “Survivors of a Shipwreck: Ivories from a Manila Galleon of 1601”, Hispanic Research Journal, 14.5, 2013, pp. 446-462.