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Abstract
This paper examines the role of Western museums, in particular the Museu do Oriente (Orient Museum) in Lisbon, Portugal, concerning the display of Chinese folk art and popular culture, contributing to a wider perspective of the image of China, after 500 years of artistic and cultural exchange between Portugal, Macau and China. The Orient Museum comprises a large collection of Chinese art and material culture which offers a wider perspective of Greater China. One aspect of the collection provides a ‘mirror’ of the cultural and artistic exchange between Portugal and China, while the other presents another perspective on China, focusing on the regional distinctiveness of Chinese ethnicity, religious traditions and the unique artistic practices of different regions of China. Unlike the typical porcelain, silk, furniture and other artworks that became familiar to Europeans as a result of global trade during the Modern period, the folk art and popular material culture from different regions presents another perspective on Chinese art and culture, traditionally considered within the scope of ethnography and therefore unworthy of display in encyclopaedic or art museums in the West. The main topics discussed in this paper include how Western communities perceive Chinese artistic, cultural and religious heterogeneity, how the museum acts as a place for intercultural dialogue through curatorial practices and parallel activities, the role of the museum in the conception of a non-stereotypical image of China, and the preservation of regional cultures as part of Greater China.
Funding
This work was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, [FCT/SFRH/BPD/79355/2011].
Notes on contributor
Rui Oliveira Lopes is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow, (Foundation for Science and Technology) at the Artistic Studies Research Centre, Faculty of Fine Arts - University of Lisbon, received his PhD (suma cum laude) in the History of Art in 2011 from the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Lisbon, completing a dissertation on the confluence of Christian art in India, China and Japan between the 16th and the 18th centuries. His research is focused on the visual aspects of the sacred narratives in the arts of the Asian civilizations, the artistic and cultural interactions between Asia and Europe, the museum as a place for intercultural dialogue, and the role of western museums in promoting and protecting Asian (in)tangible cultural heritage. Currently, he is coordinator of the research project Art in a Global Perspective at the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Lisbon.
Notes
1. The term ‘material culture’, developed during the late nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries, traditionally referred to the relationship between artefacts and their social environment (time and place). In my opinion, today, its meaning is wider also including the material constituent of cultural heritage, which includes art, architecture, manuscripts and other objects of artistic, historical or archaeological interest. Thus material culture does not imply a dichotomy between art and artefact.
2. Mainly Chinese export porcelain, which includes a wide range of wares, such as the first commissions of blue and white porcelain from the Ming dynasty, particularly from the Zhengde, Jiajing and Wanli periods. Also very popular among Portuguese museums and private collectors is armorial porcelain, decorated with coats of arms, as well as famille verte, noire, jaune and rose from the Kangxi and Qianlong periods, which frequently depicted Christian themes, with forms based on European ceramics. White porcelain figurines from the Dehua kilns in Fujian province, known as Blanc de Chine, occasionally appear on display in Portuguese museums in the context of the Catholic missions in China and Japan.
3. It is worth mentioning the small but significant group of objects from this period collected by António Medeiros de Almeida (a Portuguese businessman) during and after World War II, whose taste was unconventional compared to contemporary Portuguese collecting trends. However, his collection was only placed on public display when his converted House-Museum opened in 2001.
4. An idea originally presented by Fernando António Baptista Pereira for the Orient Museum's concept and programme (Pereira Citation2008: 25).
5. In 2003 in association with the Orient Foundation, the Fundació ‘la Caixa’ produced an exhibition in Barcelona entitled Viatge al món de les ombres (Journey to the World of Shadows) featuring shadow puppetry traditions from India, Indonesia, Thailand and Cambodia, China and Turkey. Two years later, the two institutions produced another exhibition, this time limited to shadows and puppets from China, entitled Herois i déus:. El teatre d'ombres i de titelles a la Xina (Heroes and Gods: The Theatre of Shadows and Puppets from China). In 2005, in collaboration with CESMO in Turin, the Orient Foundation organized an exhibition of popular prints illustrating Chinese New Year and religious subject matter from different provinces. Finally, in 2006 in cooperation with the Centre Culturel Abbaye de Daoulas, the Orient Foundation organized an exhibition of Asian masks in France entitled Visages des dieux, visages des hommes: Masques d'Asie (Faces of Gods, Faces of Men: Masks of Asia).
6. Many objects in the Kwok On Collection, like the near 200 Chinese propaganda posters from the Cultural Revolution, are not included in this study as they were not considered to be representative of regional cultures.