Page 326 - Chinese and japanese porcelain silk and lacquer Canepa

Fig. 4.1.1.1.5 Silver pyx chased on the lid ‘IHS’
Sixteenth century, c.1500–1525
Height: 2.6cm; diameter 7.6cm
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
(acc. No. M.5-1936)

37 For another ‘IHS’ medallion depicted on the title the three Crucifixion nails piercing the Sacred Heart) within a radiant sunburst, inlaid
page of a report published by Iean Bogart in 1589, in mother-of-pearl or painted in makie. This latter ‘IHS’ medallion was commonly
entitled Novveaux Advertissementz Des Choses Qvi
Se Sont Passées En La Chine, Et Av Iapon, Et Dv retour used on the title page of printed works concerned with the Christian doctrine, as well
des Princes Iaponois, qui l’an 1585. vindrent à Rome,
& de leur arriuée aus Indes [sic], see Adriana Boscaro, as on letters and reports of Jesuits who lived in Japan, such as Alcune Lettere delle cose
Sixteenth Century European Printed Works on the del Giappone, published in Rome in 1584 (Fig. 4.1.1.1.3).
37
First Japanese Mission to Europe. A Descriptive
Bibliography, Leiden, 1973, pp. 144–145, pl. 69. Also A few extant pyxes or Host boxes (seiheibako) of tall, cylindrical shape with
published in Vinhais and Welsh, 2008/1, p. 264, ill. 1.
38 For a discussion on surviving Namban pyxes, see a tight-fitting flat lid that is about one third of the total height bearing the ‘IHS’
Vinhais and Welsh, 2003, pp. 32–37, no. 2; Vinhais monogram are found in Japan and Europe (Fig. 4.1.1.1.4). Although small cylindrical
38
and Welsh, 2008/1, pp. 262–267, nos. 30 and 31; and
Canepa, 2011/2, pp. 260–261, fig. 1. lacquer boxes were used in Japanese temples to store incense (cobaco), it is likely that
39
39 Mentioned by Conceição Borges de Sousa, ‘Pyx
for Communion Hosts [seiheibako]’, in d’Oliveira the pyxes discussed here were made to order after European silver and gold models
Martins, 2010, p. 81. intended to contain the consecrated Hosts used in the Liturgy of the Holy Eucharist
40 In the Vocabulario da Lingoa de Iapam published by
the Jesuits in 1603, the manufacturing process used during the Catholic Mass. An early sixteenth century silver example engraved with
40
to make the wooden structure of pyxes was wood
turning (hikimono), described as ‘Fiqimono. Work the ‘IHS’ monogram on its hinged lid, though of shallow cylindrical shape, is in the
done on a lathe’. Biblioteca da Ajuda (hereafter cited Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge (Fig. 4.1.1.1.5). Textual evidence of the Jesuits
41
as BA), Lisbon, cod. 46–VIII–35, fl. 175. Vocabulario
da Lingoa de Iapam com a declaraçao em Portugues, being directly involved in an order made in Miyako of pyxes of a particular shape,
feito por alguns Padres, e irmãos da Companhia de
Iesu com a licença do Ordinario, e Superiores em most likely the cylindrical shape of extant examples, is found in a letter sent from
Nagasaqui no Collegio de Iapam sa Companhia de Nagasaki in February 1599 by the Portuguese Jesuit Diogo de Mesquita (1553–1614)
Iesu. Anno 1603. Supplemento deste vocabulario.
Anno 1604 (copy from 1747 by João Álvares), to Claudio Aquaviva, the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, in Rome. It reads
Cited in Leonor Leiria, ‘Namban Art. Packing and
Transportation’, Bulletin of Portuguese/Japanese ‘So far I have never shown Your Paternity any sign of gratitude for the many charities
Studies, Vol. 5, December 2002, p. 14; and Canepa, you did me whilst I was in that holy house, so I send your Paternity a painted missal
2011/2, p. 260, note 22.
Fig. 4.1.1.1.3 Alcune Lettere delle cose del
41 Also compare a silver, partially gilded pyx made by lectern of the good ones there are in Miyako whence it came to me and a box with
Giappone …, Roma, Appresso Francesco
the master goldsmith Willem Geverts in the Southern
Zanetti, 1584 Netherlands in 1555–1556, housed in the Victoria and some hosts made of Japanese flour and in a shape made here recently by one of our
Biblioteca Histórica de la Universidad Albert Museum (museum no. M.41–1952). Japan brothers because if they arrive intact they will be thankful to your Paternity,
Complutense de Madrid (BH FLL 10397) 42 The transcription of the original text in Portuguese
reads: ‘… hasta agora nunce he mostrado a V.P. forgive the audacity’. Extant pyxes are mostly decorated in the Namban style with
42
ninguna senal de gratitid polas muchas charida/des
Fig. 4.1.1.1.4 Namban pyx (seiheibako) dense designs of flowering plants, and more rarely with geometric designs. A pyx in
43
que me hizo El tiempo que Estuvo En essa Sancta
Momoyama period (1573–1615)
casa, per tanto Embio a V.P. una estante/de Atar
Late sixteenth century pintada delas boenas que hay En el Miyako de donde the Kanagawa Tōkei-ji Temple in Kamakura is decorated on its sides with twisting
Height: 9cm (with lid); diameter: 11.2cm me vjne, y una buçeta/con algunas hostias echas grape vines, perhaps evoking autumn, or more probably symbolizing the Eucharist.
British Museum, London y de Arina de Japón, y con una forma que poco ha If so, this would be an example of lacquers ordered with motifs that had a profound
(museum no. 1969,0415.1) labr[ado] aquí un nostro hermano Japón porque se
324 Trade in Japanese Lacquer 325