AH 0102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Francis Xavier, Oribe Ware, Furuta Oribe
12 May 2018
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Notes for Day 18: April 10, 2018
Announcements:
• Yale trip on Saturday signups (I will email waivers to students attending)
• Signups for toriawase presentation dates via Google Forms survey
Close looking exercise:
• Portrait of Saint Francis Xavier
• It looks like it is a Jesuit Painting that was sold in Japan, due to the cursive Japan
calligraphy at the beneath the portrait; there is also Latin text at the bottom of the portrait
• Saint Francis seems to be looking up into the heavens
• There is a thin halo above his head, showing that he is a saint
• He is holding a heart that is connected to the cross (crucifix) of Jesus which is shining in
the heavens
• The crucifix is surrounded by the clouds of heaven which contain the images of angels
• There are two sources of light shining on Jesus and around a symbol “IHS”
• The image is 2-dimensional
• There is a contrast in the Latin and Japanese at the bottom of the painting
• Saint Francis Xavier actually travelled to Japan in the mid 16th century; he was the first
missionary that introduced Christianity into Japan in the mid 16th century; he converted
many people and warlords at the time; this painting was created in Japan in the early 17th
century, at a time when Christianity began to be persecuted in Japan
• “IHS” is a symbol of the Jesuits
• Painted on silk, unknown author
More on Japanese Ceramics:
• Warlords, castles, golden screens
• Momoyama Period of Japan:
o There was a lot of worldlier influence in Japan, not just Eastern Asia influence
(by China and Korea via Buddhist Monks)
▪ A lot of artistic influence by Chinese and Korean practices, including in
the tea ceremony (tea was even transported)
▪ Hideyoshi and many warlords fought against Korea, couldn’t get to China,
and ended up gaining artistic materials (aesthetic colonialism)
o But western influence was brought upon Japan
▪ As in the lacquered box/portrait/portable shrine in the top right of the
slide: the painting is Jesuit (showing virgin Mary and baby Jesus) is
inserted in a Japanese style lacquered box
▪ The golden screen at the bottom center of the slide (read from right to left)
shows a market place somewhere in Japan, where there is an arrival of a
ship and foreign individuals have entered the market place; it is clearly a
professional painting
▪ There is a tea bowl, a black oribe bowl, that contains a cross that probably
acted as a visual motif rather than a symbol for Christianity
▪ There was also a fan painting of the early Christian church in Japan
▪ A well-known Jesuit from Portugal went to a Japanese Tea ceremony
▪ Context:
o Portuguese arrive in Japan in 1543
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
