Foreword
This book does not claim to be a monographic volume
on such a complex and little-studied theme, with
much of the published art-historical literature revisiting
the same small and well-known corpus of Chinese
Christian art from the early modern period. It is hoped
that the in-depth analysis of the fifteen artworks discussed
in the catalogue section of this volume—most
of which are previously unknown to scholars and unpublished—
will shed further light on the subject and
provide material for additional research and comparative
analysis. By broadening the geographical scope to
include the South China Sea—considering, for instance,
the contributions of overseas Chinese artists settled in
the Philippines—this study underscores the fundamentally
Chinese character of their artworks, despite their
varying Sinicised features and the growing European
influences they exhibit. It also highlights the two main
ways such artworks came into being: one centred around
the Chinese southern coastal provinces, with private individuals
and wealthy merchants as the principal figures;
the other entrenched in the heart of the Empire, in its
capital city of Beijing, accessible only to accredited missionaries
and diplomats.
The present volume owes its existence to a painting
once housed in a Lisbon palace and the insatiable curiosity
of an art dealer. This painting is arguably one of the
most significant Christian artworks produced in China
during the early modern period, created within a specific
and now better-understood context of missionary work in
the region. It now belongs to the Asian Civilisations Museum
in Singapore. Painted by the Italian Jesuit brother
Giuseppe Panzi in collaboration with an unknown Chinese
artist (cat. 11), it depicts the main altarpiece of St
Joseph’s Church, the Dong Tang, in Beijing. Not only is
it a rare example of Christian art made in China during
the height of Jesuit presence at the imperial court, but it
is also well-documented through surviving archival sources.
Moreover, it enhances our understanding of the interior
decoration of the Beijing church, which has long
since been destroyed. The initial text on this remarkable
painting was written in 2019 but was circulated only as a
printed and illustrated dépliant. In a sense, this painting,
along with another on silk (cat. 12) identified soon after—
depicting St Anthony of Padua (or, as the Portuguese prefer,
‘of Lisbon’)—became the impetus for this publication.
These and other rare religious artworks made in China
or by Chinese artists during the early modern period
form the heart of the volume. While these paintings
served as the starting point, Mário Roque was fortunate
to discover and acquire other notable works produced
within the same cultural, religious, and artistic context.
These include early ivories (cats. 3-6), a rare mother-ofpearl
plaque (cat. 2), large-scale wooden sculptures (cat.
7), and eighteenth-century paintings on silk (cats. 8-9),
paper (cat. 10), parchment (cat. 13), and glass (cat. 14). A
testimony to later periods is presented in cat. 15, which
concludes the book. Setting the tone for the volume, the
book begins with a remarkable painting on copper attributed
to Giovanni Niccolò (cat. 1). Although it is not
possible to determine definitively whether it was painted
in India, Japan, or China—or even before Niccolò departed
for Asia from Europe—this work encapsulates the
type of imagery supplied and presented by missionaries
for adoration and copying by newly converted Christians
and local artists.
The following concise introduction begins by briefly
addressing the Portuguese presence in China and their
role in disseminating first-hand knowledge of China and
Chinese commodities, including silk textiles and porcelain,
within intra-regional Asian trade routes and via the India
Run to Lisbon. It then provides art-historical discussion
and visual material related to Christian-themed carved
ivories produced between southern China and the Philippines.
Additionally, by offering a brief historical overview
of the Jesuit mission to China, it seeks to provide the
necessary framework for contextualising the core group of
eighteenth-century paintings (cats. 8-12) presented in the
catalogue section of the volume.
The albeit brief discussion on ivories that follows in the
introduction has greatly benefited from ongoing debates
with colleagues, for which I wish to thank José Manuel
Casado Paramio and Ana Paula Castro Jiménez for their
insightful exchanges and generosity. I am especially grateful
to Stephanie Porras for assisting me in accessing images
of the Santa Margarita carved ivories. I also extend my
sincere thanks to Clement Onn, Miguel Cabral Moncada,
Sérgio Tavares, Sandra Falcão, Pedro Lobo, and Pedro
Ramos Gonçalves for their invaluable support.