Thursday, May 13, 2010

Jesuit Porcelain And Fr. François-Xavier d'Entrecolles, S.J.

Jesuit Porcelain, a name given to Japanese porcelain of the 18th century, which the Jesuits had caused to be decorated with Madonnas, images of the saints, and Christian emblems. It is now rare.
Link (here)
Photo of Jesuit Porcelain tea cup (here)
.
A valuable independent authority is the Jesuit missionary Pere Francois-Xavier d'Entrecolles, who frequently resided at what he calls his Chretiente at Ching-te Chen, and wrote from there two letters upon the porcelain manufacture, dated 1712 and 1722, towards the close of the long reign of the Emperor K'ang-hsi, the culminating period of ceramic art in China. Where these two authorities differ it is usually the worthy missionary who is right; as, for instance, in the question of the colour of the glaze of the old Lungch'iian porcelain, which he states to be green, bordering upon olive, while Julien will have it to be blue.
Link (here)

No comments: