An ivory crucifix found in Japan

An ivory crucifix found in Japan: Questions of interpretation
Alan Chong

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The recent discovery of a group of Christian objects in Japan sheds new light on the exchange of works of art around 1600. Because they were never officially confiscated during the ban on Christianity, they provide a rich context of ownership and use.

The ivory crucifix in particular raises important questions of attribution, circulation, and appreciation. The group also includes a bronze plaque of the Madonna of Loreto and a wooden crucifix, both Italian.

These works of art moved between several different cultures in a short period of time around 1600. The familiar narrative of Jesuit/Portuguese influence in Japan may need re-evaluation. Indeed, the group of objects raises problems of approach and interpretation.

Speaker


Alan Chong is an art historian interested in the intersections between cultures, including hybridity, complexity, and contested ownership. He has curated exhibitions including Bellini and the East; Christianity in Asia: Sacred Art and Visual Splendour; Port Cities: Multicultural Emporiums of Asia; and Gondola Days: Isabella Stewart Gardner and the Palazzo Barbaro Circle. He wrote “17th-century Chinese ivory sculptures from the Philippines” for Across the Pacific: Art and the Manila Galleons and edited the catalogue Batik Nyonyas: Three Generations of Art and Entrepreneurship (both 2024). He received his PhD from Yale University, and has served as director of the Asian Civilisations Museum, Singapore, and as curator of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston.

Moderator


Clement Onn is the director of the Asian Civilisations Museum and the Peranakan Museum. His research interest lies in exchanges between Asia and Europe in the 16th and 18th centuries. His primary focus is on trading networks and the spread of the Christian faith in Asia, particularly in the Indian subcontinent, Japan, China, and the Philippines. He co-curated the exhibitions Christianity in Asia: Sacred Art and Visual Splendour; Port Cities: Multicultural Emporiums of Asia, 1500–1900; Life in Edo x Russel Wong in Kyoto; and Manila Galleon: From Asia to the Americas.