Page 143 - Chinese and japanese porcelain silk and lacquer Canepa

3.1.1.26) (Appendix 2). Plates of this type were recovered from the Chinese junk,
Fig. 3.1.1.27 Pyramid-shaped ceiling
of the drawing room at Santos Palace,
Lisbon (French Embassy)
© Christopher Allerton, French Embassy, Lisbon
in Oporto. The convent of Santa Clara-a-Velha in Coimbra also yielded a considerable Senhora da Consolação (1608), Arqueonautas
103
Worldwide S.A., 2013, pp. 50–51, figs. 54–55.
number of shards of blue-and-white porcelain bowls and small to medium-sized 86 The Nossa Senhora da Luz, on its homeward journey
plates, including many Kraak pieces, which are now partially reconstructed. These from Goa, stopped for provisions in the island of
104
Faial. While at anchor at the entrance of the bay
porcelains, like the Kinrande and yellow-glazed pieces discussed earlier, were probably of Porto Pim, the carrack was hit by a storm and
wrecked. 150 people, including members of the
given to the convent, which was under Royal patronage, before it was abandoned in crew and passengers died and a large part of the
1677. Shards of Kraak plates and bowls are also among the porcelain dating from the cargo was lost when the carrack sank. The list of
objects salvaged at the time of the wreck included
Zhengde to Chongzhen reigns excavated at the former Dominican convent of Santana textiles, spices, furniture, ivory objects, porcelains,
glass beads and other objects. The porcelains
(present-day Santana Market) in Leiria, about 70km south of Coimbra, which attest to appear variously listed as “brincos de persolana,
the affluent daily life of the nuns (daughters of noble or merchant families) and secular persolaninhas, perçolaninhas pequeninas and
porçolana de carregasam”. AHU, Azores, cx. 1, no. 12
women that resided there. As noted by Varela Gomes and Varela Gomes, the fine (Azores Archive, 1999, 45–152). Cited in José António
105
Bettencourt, ‘Os Vestígios da nau Nossa Senhora
quality and quantity of the porcelain found at the convents discussed above shows the da Luz resultados dos trabalhos arqueológicos’,
high social and economic status of some of their residents (religious or secular) and of Arquipélago Historia, 2a série, IX (2005), p. 237.
The shipwreck yielded hundreds of blue-and-white
the religious orders themselves, and at the same time attest to a devotional daily life porcelain shards, including a large number of Kraak
shards, from which it was possible to identify 31
that was far from being austere. 106 dishes, 7 bowls and 2 bottles. The shards of dishes
In southern Portugal, a number of shards of Kraak and other late Ming blue-and- show circular or star-shaped medallions within
panelled borders, variously formed by wide and
white porcelain were excavated in the region of the Algarve. In Silves, about 252km narrow panels, bracket-lobed panels or teardrop-
shaped medallions. The central scenes include deer
south of Lisbon, some three dozens of shards mostly of bowls and plates dating to the in a landscape, a bird perched on a rock beside large
Jiajing and Wanli reigns, together with a shard of a green Kinrande bowl and the base of flowers, auspicious symbols and geometric patterns.
The bowls and bottles are decorated with radiating
a large box with a combination of overglaze polychrome enamels and underglaze blue panels enclosing floral motifs. I am grateful to José
António Bettencourt for providing me with images
details, thus the type called Wucai (five colours) in Chinese made in large quantities and drawings of the porcelain from this shipwreck.
at Jingdezhen and other kilns in southern China during the Jiajing and Wanli reigns For general information on the shipwreck and its
porcelain cargo, see Alexandre Monteiro, O naufrágio
(Appendix 2), were excavated from a cistern. Blue-and-white shards of plates with da nau da Carreira da Índia Nossa Senhora da Luz,
107
108
Horta, 1999, pp. 22–25 and 57–58; Bettencourt, 2005,
white cavettos and flat rims, bowls, and jars dating from the Jiajing to Wanli reigns pp. 246–258; Bettencourt, 2008; and Canepa, 2012/1,
pp. 262–263, figs. 9–11.
were excavated at the Bernardas convent in Tavira. In Lagos, a shard of a Kraak 87 After a battle with the Dutch, the ship ran aground on
109
dish with a bracket-lobed rim decorated with a white cavetto below a lotus and heron the coast after a storm. A small number of porcelain
shards from the São João Baptista have washed up
border, together with a few fragments of blue-and-white plates depicting a phoenix in on Cannons Rocks beach on the Eastern Cape coast.
profile within a white cavetto and a flat, up-turned rim border with alternating peach These tiny shards formed part of saucer dishes with
teardrop borders and klapmutsen with monster
sprays and auspicious symbols tied with ribbons, a type of rather ordinary quality that masks, similar to those recovered from the Witte
Leeuw (1613). Personal communication with Valerie
began to be made at private Jingdezhen kilns from about 1565 or 1570 onwards (Fig. Esterhuizen, October 2012.
142 Silk, Porcelain and Lacquer
110
known as Nan’ao No. 1, which sank off Yun’ao Town, Nan’ao County, Shantou City,
in Guangdong province, in c.1573–1620 (Appendix 3). 111
The most tangible evidence of large imports of Kraak and other fine Jingdezhen
porcelain into Portugal is provided by the extant pieces themselves. Numerous
intact pieces and others cut in fragments were incorporated as architectural features
in seventeenth century royal and aristocratic residences in Lisbon. The ceiling of a
small drawing room in the Santos Palace, now the French Embassy, is covered with
more than 260 Jingdezhen dishes and plates, mostly dating from the late Ming
dynasty, including 96 Kraak pieces and a few dishes made at the Zhangzhou kilns
(Fig. 3.1.1.27). This porcelain was collected by Manuel I and his successors, as
112
Fig. 3.1.1.26 Shards of a Kraak and a blue-and- well as by members of the Lancastre family, who later owned the Palace. The quality
white plates excavated at Lagos, Algarve and variety of the porcelain is astonishing with the earliest pieces dating back to the
Jingdezhen kilns, Jiangxi province
Zhengde reign. Only two comparable collections from the same period still exist:
113
Ming dynasty, Wanli reign (1573–1620)
© Miguel Serra, Palimpsesto the porcelain assembled principally in the Ardebil Shrine in Iran where the Safavid
King Shah Abbas (1587–1629) placed his porcelain collection in 1611 and the
Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, which was the primary residence of the Ottoman sultans
88 The Wanli shipwreck was most likely a shalupa, a
114
naveta, an urca or some similar sized vessel. I am for nearly 400 years (1465–1856). It appears that by the second quarter of the
grateful to Sten Sjostrand for pointing out this seventeenth century it became customary to use shells and stones in combination with
information and for providing me with images
of porcelain recovered from the shipwreck. For small fragments of glass, Portuguese tin-glazed earthenware and late Ming blue-and-
a discussion on the remaining structures of the
shipwreck, see Sten Sjostrand and Sharipah Lok Lok white porcelain (mostly Kraak) to create complex inlaid murals, known in Portuguese
bt. Syed Idrus, The Wanli Shipwreck and its Ceramic as embrechados, which covered many internal and external areas of garden buildings
Cargo, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 2007, pp. 23–31.
I
89 bid., pp. 98–99, serial no. 1156 and bottle shard 1. For in royal and aristocratic residences. The best-known embrechados are those in the
115
a discussion on two intact examples, one of large size
and the other smaller, see Vinhais and Welsh, 2008/2, former royal Palace of Alcáçovas (Palace of Henriques) in Lisbon, purchased by the
pp. 160–167, nos. 21 and 22. The large example, University of Coimbra in 1597; and the Palace of the Marquesses of Fronteira in the
116
together with a bottle of similar form bearing the
arms of Philip II of Spain in Medici porcelain, is also suburb of Santo Domingo of Benfica, which was built in 1640 as a hunting pavilion
discussed in Pinto de Matos, 2011, pp. 166–169, no.
66. Namban bottles (tokkuri) of this shape, made in by Dom João de Mascarenhas, 2nd Count of Torre and 1st Marquis of Fronteira. 117
Japan during the Momoyama period (1573–1615), will In both residences, the central medallions of dishes, plates or small bowls (typically
be discussed in section 4.1.2 of Chapter IV.
90 The use of the shou character in this repeated way of Kraak bowls commonly known as ‘crow cups’), all perfectly cut in circles, were
creating a background pattern is known as Bai Shou
Tu, which means the ‘Picture of the Hundred shou used as focal points in symmetrical compositions, configured by multiple geometric
characters’. These bowls would have provided wishes panels arranged as to create a strong visual rhythm, enhanced by the use of materials
for a long life. The examples of such bowls recovered
from the Wanli shipwreck, bear an apocryphal six- in contrasting colours (Fig. 3.1.1.28a and b).
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character Chenghua reign mark on the base. The
cargo also included bowls of small size decorated The long established gift-giving practice of the Houses of Avis-Beja and Habsburg
only with repeated shou characters on the exterior continued under the succeeding House of Braganza. After his accession to the throne
and central interior medallion. See, Sjostrand and
Lok Lok bt. Syed Idrus, 2007, pp. 108–109, Serial No. in 1640, John IV sent ambassadors to several European courts with diplomatic gifts.
5287, and pp. 134–135, Serial No. 6343; respectively.
91 The bowl, decorated with a shou character, relates These included an impressive pair of blue-and-white covered jars densely decorated
to a find made at the Xiuzuan kiln in Zhaoan county. with the Hundred Deer motif, dating to the Wanli reign, given to Queen Christina of
Ibid., pp. 254–255, serial nos. 7398 and 2695; and
Canepa, 2010, pp. 66–67, figs. 9–10. Sweden (r. 1632–1654), who became a distinguished art collector after the death of
92 The finds from the São Gonçalo shipwreck include
shards of a saucer dish decorated with a yuan her father, Gustavus II Adolphus. These jars, measuring 72cm high, are housed in the
character surrounded by sketchily painted dragons, Östasiatiska Museum in Stockholm (Fig. 3.1.1.29).
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which relate to archaeological finds at the Dongkou
kiln site in Pinghe county and Xiuzhuan kiln site in From the information provided by the textual sources discussed thus far it is
Zhaoan county, respectively. For a discussion on
the Portuguese trade in Zhangzhou porcelain and possible to conclude that porcelain began arriving regularly in Lisbon before direct
these archaeological finds, see Teresa Canepa, ‘The Portuguese trade relations with China were established in 1513, during the reign of
Portuguese, Spanish and Dutch Trade in Zhangzhou
Porcelain (Part I)’, Fujian Wenbo, No. 72, September Emperor Zhengde. The first royal orders of porcelain date as early as 1507. By 1522,
2010, pp. 63–69.
93 Padre Nicolau de Oliveira, Livro das Grandezas de porcelains, together with silk damasks, iron nails, leather shields and other things
Lisboa, Lisbon, reprint 1991, p. 462. Cited in Maria made up one-third of the cargoes of the Portuguese giant merchant ships returning
Antónia Pinto de Matos and Mary Salgado, Porcelana
Chinesa da Fundação Carmona e Costa-Chinese from India. Imported into Lisbon under the designation of miudezas, the annual
Porcelain in The Carmona e Costa Foundation,
Lisbon, 2002, p. 20; and Pinto de Matos, 2011, p. 128. shipments of porcelain were worth less than 10,000 cruzados. Porcelain appears to
Trade in Chinese Porcelain 143