AH 0102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: Chinese Checkers, Lacquerware, Carved Lacquer
12 May 2018
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Notes for Day 18: April 13, 2018
Arrival of the Europeans Screen painting:
• They come in pairs (left screen and right screen)
• Some can be separated in museums
• Commercial themes are referenced in both screens
• Color schemes are the same
• They both use gold leaf (not just paint) to make cloud formations in both screens
• Clouds are used to flatten the surface of the painting to make 3D images appear 2D
• There is a lot of sense of movement between the two screens
• Both pictures are zoomed in to make only one image be seen and level of detail is the
same
• Entire screen for both screens are used, but the left screen has one focal point and then an
open space
• The artist wants to make everything visible so everything even in the background are at
the same scale as certain objects at the front of the painting
• These items were considered to be luxurious, but they were not aesthetically valuable
• They are meant to be seen closely
• Portuguese are pictured to arrive on Japanese coastline
• These screens are called southern barbarians art (nanbun art): due to differing cultures
(outsiders outside of China were not considered civilized) and these individuals were
coming from a southern direction
• More detail:
o In the left scroll, one can see materials being deposited on Japanese shore, and the
patterns on the clothing of the Portuguese
o Water jars, lacquer ware, tea sets, tables, large tea jars, and boxes are organized
on the shoreline
o There are monastics (Jesuits) sitting on a table on the shoreline
o Trading began to be limited to the Dutch East India Company (large merchant
company) because the Dutch only wanted to trade not convert any Japanese
individuals to Christianity
o In the right scroll, one can see a group of gentlemen playing Chinese checkers
(older and very wealthy men); also one of the men is wearing garb associated with
the sammari and the other man is foreign, who could be European
o There is a church at the top of the screen where the chess game is taking place
(churches were places of social activity); Japanese and Europeans are interacting
with another in this church
o The church is surrounded by a moat that is only connected with the rest of the
mainland of the shoreline by a bridge (defense mechanism)
o Even in the church an image of Virgin Mary is scratched out; the image of the
church is also cropped out of the screen, which might have happened earlier in the
17th century
o One part of this painting contains a group of merchants and their assistants
holding textiles, sitting next to lacquer writing box, and doing something similar
to accounting
Nanban Byobu Key points:
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