Clockwise from left: Shrine with a painting of Holy Family with John the Baptist, The Virgin Mary, Candlestick with Christian scenes, Plaque: Virgin and Child crowned by angels, Portrait of Matteo Ricci.

SINGAPORE.- The Asian Civilisations Museum is presenting Christianity in Asia: Sacred Art and Visual Splendour, the world’s first exhibition on the history and spread of Christian art in Asia. This is also the ACM’s inaugural special exhibition after an extensive revamp last year. 

Asia has played a significant role in the spread of Christianity since the 7th century and Asian art absorbed influences from many different cultures, including the Middle East, India, China, Japan, the Philippines, and Southeast Asia. Many of the artists who created Christian images belonged to other faiths, but nonetheless made powerful and beautiful images. Asian art often blends European Christian subjects with local motifs and patterns, or is made in distinctive local materials. 

Shrine with a painting of Holy Family with John the Baptist, Japan, late 16th century. Shrine: lacquer and gold on wood, mother-of-pearl; painting: oil on copper, Museu des Artes Decorativas, Lisbon, Fundação Ricardo do Espírito Santo Silva. Photo: Asian Civilisations Museum. 

The exhibition looks at art spanning across 800 years from the 13th to the 20th century, with a special focus on the period from 16th to 18th century, where significant trade and missions occurred. Over 150 objects from six countries – Singapore, France, Portugal, Italy, Hong Kong, and the Philippines – and 20 acclaimed institutions and private collections around the world, including the Musée du Louvre, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, and Lisbon’s National Museum of Ancient Art, are on display. They are complemented by objects from ACM’s rich collection, including a largest known Sri Lankan ivory sculpture of the Virgin. Many of these objects are being exhibited for the very first time in Singapore. 

The Virgin Mary, Philippines, decorated in Mexico. Photo: Asian Civilisations Museum.

 The exhibition reflects the museum’s vision to present a broad perspective of pan-Asian cultures. Director of the ACM, Dr Alan Chong, said: “Christian art in Asia was created by artists of many different faiths: Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, Confucian, and so on. New motifs and materials were used in these objects, which reflect many heritages. Moreover, many of the images were collected by patrons who were non-Christian. This demonstrates the curiosity and openness evident throughout Asia, especially in the 16th and 17th centuries.” 

Portrait of Matteo Ricci, Emmanuele Pereira, China, Beijing, 1610, oil on canvas. Photo: Patrimonio del Fondo Edifici di Culto

 The exhibition is organised in four thematic sections: Early Christian Art in Asia, What makes art made in Asia, Christian, Christian missions to Asia, 16th to 19th centuries (The Indian Subcontinent, China, Japan, Philippines and Southeast Asia) and a case study of Singapore. Visitors will be introduced to artworks that examine the different interpretations and adaptations of the well-established Christian themes by local artists and artisans, who may not be Christians themselves, or were from countries that were predominantly nonChristian such as Syria, India and Iran. An example would be an inlaid metal candlestick made in Syria between 1248 and 1249, which was decorated with both Christian scenes and medieval Islamic art. New Christian motifs were also introduced such as the representation of Christ as a good shepherd by India, which eventually became familiar mainstays in Asian Christian art. 

Ivory plaque of Virgin and Child crowned by Angels. © Private collection.

Beyond the design of the objects, the exhibition also demonstrates the knowledge exchange between Asia and the West in terms of art techniques like ivory carving which were then unknown in the West but grew in popularity after, and the use of rare materials found in Asia, including rock crystal, ivory, lacquer, mother-of-pearl, tortoiseshell and precious stones. 

Clement Onn, curator at ACM and of the exhibition, said, “The Christianity in Asia exhibition is a celebration of artistic innovation, experimentation and the diversity which emerges from cross-cultural influences. Through the curation of the exhibition, we hope that visitors will not just be exposed to the wide array of Asian Christian art, recognised by its intrinsic quality, originality and aesthetic merit, but also learn that common threads such as religion can also bring people of various cultures and from different countries together.” 

Candlestick, signed Dawud ibn Salama al-Mawsili, 646 H./ 1248-1249, Jezireh or Syria. Photo: RMN-Grand Palais (Musée du Louvre)/Hervé Lewandowski.

Dr Pedro Moura Carvalho, former chief curator of ACM and a curator of the exhibition states, “Christianity in Asia shows for the first time how local artists and patrons – Catholics, Hindus, Muslims among others – were inspired by the life of Jesus and other saintly figures to create extraordinary works of art which found no parallel anywhere else. It reveals how the Gospels reached the continent long before the arrival of the Vasco da Gama in India, and how through a combination of royal sponsorship, passionate missionary work, and dazzling splendour, Catholicism spread throughout most of Asia from the 16th century onwards.” 

Crosses of the Church of the East China, Yuan Dynasty (1272 to 1368), bronze. Photo: Asian Civilisations Museum.

Christianity in Asia: Sacred Art and Visual Splendour is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue containing original essays on Asian Christian Art by a group of international scholars such as Pedro Moura Carvalho, Ken Parry, Lauren Arnold, and Istvan Peczel. 

The exhibition is also made possible by the strong relationships between ACM and many international partners, especially museums, collectors, and institutions around the world who have supported the exhibition. 

Christianity in Asia: Sacred Art and Visual Splendour exhibition runs from 27 May to 11 September 2016 at the Asian Civilisations Museum. Admission charges apply for this special exhibition.

A piece of porcelain of China, Ming Dynasty, with the symbol of the society of Jesus and the arms of Portugal. Photo: Asian Civilisations Museum.

Chinese porcelain vase, Ming Dynasty, with symbols of the passion of Christ. Lent from the House Museum Medeiros e Almeida 

Virgin and Child, Sri Lanka, mid-16th century, ivory. Photo: Asian Civilisations Museum.

Casket. Perhaps India, Goa, 2nd half of the 16th century. Gold, traces of enamel. © Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lisbon.

This casket was used in Eucharisticrituals. It held the host and wasplaced inside a tortoiseshell casket;both were then placed within anenormous rock crystal chest to createan awe-inspiring presence on thealtar during the Mass.Made in gold filigree, the overallscheme of geometric patterns androsettes resembles Islamicornamentation. The lock was onceenamelled in green and red. Thecasket was given in the early 17thcentury to an Augustinian monasteryin honour of Afonso de Albuquerque,governor of Portuguese India from1509 to 1515.

Desk, 17th century, region of Sindh, India, with the symbolism of the order of the Dominicans. Photo: Asian Civilisations Museum.

Mary Magdalene presenting ointment to Jesus, illustration to the Mirror Of Holiness, Mughal, India, Allahabad, 1602 to 1604, gouache and gold on paper. Photo: Asian Civilisations Museum.

Martyrdom of Nagasaki, 1622. Probably, China, Macau, mid-17thcentury. Colour on paper. Patrimonio del Fondo Edifici di Culto,amministrato dal Ministero dell’Interno, on loan to Chiesa del SS.nome di Gesù, Rome.  

Virgin and Child with John the Baptist, Iran, Safavid period, 1682-1683. Photo: Asian Civilisations Museum.

Reliquary casket of Saint Francis Xavier: Although this casket, made in India, Goa, around 1686–90, was made to contain relics associated with Saint Francis Xavier, the decoration is Indian in character and lacks any Christian imagery, except for the angels on the roof. © Museu de São Roque, Lisbon.

Bureau shrine, Guangzhou, China, 1730s, wood, gold, lacquer, silver, brass. Photo: Asian Civilisations Museum.

Crucifixion, Vietnam, 19th century, painted wood. Photo: Asian Civilisations Museum.

This sculpture is an intriguing blend of European and Asian forms, as well as the ideals of Christianity and the Chinese scholar. The figure of Christ on a cross with floral terminals is a traditional European image. More unusual is the halo, which is carved as a flower. But even more distinctive is the base sculpted as a Chinese scholar’s rock, an intriguing and complex natural shape that invites contemplation

The faces, hands, and feet of thesefigures are carved of ivory. The bodies consist of simple wooden frames, intended only as supports for the elaborate textiles and objects. The hair and eyelashes appear to be made of real hair. Saint Joseph carries the Christ Child and a staff of sprouting lilies. TheVirgin is shown as the Virgin of Mount Carmel, the patroness of the Order of Carmelites, because she holds scapulars (panels of cloth connected by bands).