The bible stand is formed by two lacquered articulated wooden sections and decorated with a golden composition of floral and foliage elements combined with an exuberant insignia of the Society of Jesus - a new religious order founded by Ignatius of Loyola in 1534 and officially recognized by the Pope Paul III in 1540.
The Jesuits were the first Christian missionaries in Japan, concentrating their action firstly on the Japanese elite and later on lower social classes, having converted, by end of the sixteenth century, more than 300,000 Japanese to Christianism. With the Portuguese arrival in the East and the intense missionary program that followed, a necessity to erect churches and produce locally objects used on the European context arose.
Furniture and other liturgical objects in lacquer with mother-of-pearl inlay, such as this lectern, were made by the hands of local artisans oriented by Portuguese masters following European prototypes yet using regional materials and techniques. These lecterns (shokendai) were commissioned by Jesuits missionaries to be used on devotional services to hold the sacred text. This specific type of portable folding lectern is related to Baroque carved wooden prototypes produced in Goa, albeit its articulated mechanism, formed by two crossed boards, follows well-known Islamic models. With a slight modification to the original Islamic lectern model, this adapted prototype allowed the bible to rest on an almost vertical position, as the Western book-rest form, in opposition to the horizontal position used for the reading of the Koran.
Made of Japanese cypress wood (Chamaecyparis obtusa) and coated with black lacquer (urushi-e), the lectern is richly decorated with gold and silver motifs (maki-e), as well with mother-of-pearl inlaid work (raden).
The large central medallion, composed of two rings, bears the “IHS”, the Jesuits’ monogram, and the symbols of Christ’s crucifixion. The outer ring is fully decorated with a marvelous mother-of-pearl inlaid work combined with golden and silver strips in a beautifully composition of sunrays, shining light to the Jesuits insignia.
This pattern consisted of inlaid work in the form of radiant beams can also be found on small namban boxes, resembling an open fan.
On the ground of the front panels, a profuse floral decoration takes place consisting of a Japanese cherry tree blossoms (sakura) on the superior panel, and a leaf pattern with orange-fruits on the lower panel. A decoration of scrolling wine with grapes, and a Japanese camellia (tsubaki) tree adorn the on the upper and lower back panel, accordingly.
The front panels are framed with an ornamental border of a scrolling and interlacing tendrils. Protecting the lectern, iron mountings with cherry trees engravings were added to the superior corners and feet.
Lecterns, such as the present example, were common to most Jesuit churches. As a result of the persecution of Christians under the leadership of Tokugawa Iemitsu (1623-1651), these objects are today extremely rare. This one of few example of the namban liturgical lacquers that have survived to the present day, illustrating the cross-cultural interaction between the East and the West in Japan during the Momoyama Period (1573-1615).
Similar examples can be seen at the Namban Bunkanan Museum in Osaka, the Arte Antiga National Museum in Lisbon, the Monasterio de las Descalzas Reales in Madrid, and the Peabody Essex Museum in Massachusetts.


Hugo Miguel Crespo
Centro de História, Universidade de Lisboa


Bibliography:


- CANEPA, Teresa Namban Lacquer For The Portuguese And Spanish Missionaries in Bulletin of Portuguese - Japanese Studies, vol. 18-19, junio-diciembre, 2009, pp. 253-290 Universidade Nova de Lisboa Lisboa, Portugal
- CANEPA, Teresa, et all., Depois Do Bárbaros Ii, Arte Namban Para Os Mercados Japonês, Português E Holandês, Jorge Welsh Edições., Lisboa, 2008

Esta placa, representa a Adoração dos Reis Magos, sem dúvida replicando em pormenor uma fonte gravada europeia ainda não identificada.Apresenta-nos uma cena interior (com arcarias e frestas), com a Sagrada Família à esquerda - São José em pé apoiado no seu cajado e segurando o chapéu, a Virgem sentada, e o Menino ao colo de sua mãe, de mãos estendidas, recebendo as ofertas. Um dos reis, com cabeça destapada em sinal de respeito, está ajoelhado perante o Menino com sua oferta (uma taça coberta), outro em pé à direita com uma taça idêntica com tampa, e o terceiro, sem barba e bem pé, segura um ceptro e uma vara de comando; no primeiro plano vemos uma coroa pousada de um dos reis-magos. Ao fundo, duas figuras masculinas com suas lanças e alabardas, observam a cena. Esta placa, delicadamente entalhada em marfim, foi produzida por artesãos chineses ou mestizos de origem chinesa em Manila nas Filipinas, concebida enquanto suporte visual para práticas devocionais promovidas tanto pelos jesuítas como pelos franciscanos, ou ainda outras ordens religiosas na Ásia no seu trabalho missionário e, também, como objectos para exportação, nomeadamente para a América Central e do Sul, e para a Península Ibérica . Descobertas arqueológicas recentes, nomeadamente do naufrágio de um galeão de Manila, a Santa Margarita (1601) ao largo das ilhas Marianas (Ladrones), oferecem uma riqueza de informação sobre a cronologia e produção de esculturas devocionais de marfim feitas por mestres entalhadores chineses e filipinos nas Filipinas nos inícios do século XVII. Trata-se de uma produção que antecede em meio século a produção de escultura ebúrnea em Goa.
Hugo Miguel CrespoCentro de História, Universidade de Lisboa


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