Page 89 - Sotheby's London Fine Japanese Art Nov. 2019

the mention of the colour black, which would by the Earl’s secretary Culpepper Tanner in joined the Sousa collection through Dom Luís.
have differentiated the real elephant from the 1688 inventory. These may have come to Nevertheless, Lisbon was also a major trading
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the white elephant of Buddhist iconography, the house at the time of the Earl’s marriage to hub for objects coming from the Orient and
associated with the bodhisattva Fugen. As Anne Cavendish, daughter of the third Earl of these elephants might have been acquired
far as is definitely known, the next elephant Devonshire. there by Dom Luís or another member of the
was introduced in 1597, but there are two family in the late 17 century.
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more that may have been sent as gifts in These auspicious and exotic porcelain
the late sixteenth century, one by the king elephants were for centuries part of the Sousa Amongst the great connoisseurs of the family,
of Cambodia and another by the Chinese / Dukes of Palmela collection. This family, one should also note Dom Alexandre de Sousa
in 1574. The late-sixteenth century gifts apart from the royal family, was the most Holstein (1751-1803), who was Portuguese
of elephants would almost certainly have relevant collecting dynasty in Portugal with ambassador in Copenhagen, Berlin and Rome
arrived in western Kyushu, making it possible several important collectors and art patrons in the late 18th century, having promoted
that the creatures had lived on in regional throughout its long history (see Uma família excavations in Ariccia, near Rome. A funerary
folk memory until the time this elephant de coleccionadores: poder e cultura - antiga monument to him by Antonio Canova can still
was made at Arita about a century later. colecção Palmela (exh. cat.), Casa-Museu be seen today at the Church of St Anthony
See Timon Screech, The Western Scientific Anastácio Gonçalves, Lisbon, 2001). in Rome. His eldest son, Pedro de Sousa
Gaze and Popular Imagery in Late Edo Japan The first major figure of this dynasty is Dom Holstein, 1st Duke of Palmela, was not only a
(Cambridge, 1996), p. 39 and Sunamoto Luís de Sousa (1637-1690), Bishop of Lamego leading political figure of the 19th century in
Etsujiro, Zo [The elephant] (Tokyo, 1932), and made Archbishop of Braga during his Portugal, serving as Prime Minister on several
1297ff. stay as Portuguese ambassador in Rome. An occassions, but also a voracious collector
avid collector and patron, he acquired in the who enriched and secured the long-lasting
The first known documented models of prestige of the Palmela Collection.
Kakiemon elephants to arrive in Europe Eternal city many works of art which later 1. John Ayers; Oliver Impey; John Mallet; Porcelain for
are in the collections at Burghley House, went to enrich the Sousa’s family main seat, Palaces, The Fashion for Japan in Europe 1650-1750,
Lincolnshire. The inventory states that there the Palácio do Calhariz in Azeitão. Through (London, 1990), pl. 160.
were “two large elephants” standing with the correspondence and travelling of Jesuit 2. For a similar example, see Mark Hinton et al., Courtly
raised trunks on the bed chamber chimney missions, Japanese works of art were present Display: The Somlyo Collection of Japanese Ceramics,
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piece of John Cecil, 5th Earl of Exeter, listed and admired in Rome in the late 17 century (London, 2015), pl. 6.
and it is not impossible that the present lot