Bulletin of Portuguese - Japanese Studies

ISSN: 0874-8438

bpjs.cham@fcsh.unl.pt

Universidade Nova de Lisboa

Portugal

Carneiro, Paula

The Voyage of the "Southern Barbarians" at the Soares dos Reis National Museum: an Iconographic

Analysis

Bulletin of Portuguese - Japanese Studies, vol. 12, june, 2006, pp. 41-56

Universidade Nova de Lisboa

Lisboa, Portugal

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The voyage of the “Southern Barbarians” 41BPJS, 2006, 12, 41-56

THE VOYAGE OF THE “SOUTHERN BARBARIANS”AT THE SOARES DOS REIS NATIONAL MUSEUM:AN ICONOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS *

Paula CarneiroSoares dos Reis National Museum, Oporto

1. Incorporation into Portugal’s national heritage

In 1955, the Portuguese state acquired the third pair of Namban screens for the country’s national collection. In addition to their artistic value, the historical and documental importance of these screens was considered to be a decisive criterion for this acquisition, as they represent the Portuguese expansion in the Orient during the 16th century.1 The two pairs of screens that had been acquired prior to this had been incorporated into the collections of the National Museum for Ancient Art (Museu Nacional da Arte Antiga), and, just like the earlier transactions, the Portuguese diplomatic mission in Tokyo had carried out this acquisition as well. The selection process was assisted by the technical advice of the well-known Japanese specialist, Yoshitomo Okamoto, who issued a certificate of authenticity for this pair of screens, dating them to the late 16th century.2

2. The first studies

As these screens were works of an unusual historical and artistic value,from the very outset they were quickly requisitioned to participate in various national and international exhibitions in artistic, historical or commemora-

* One would like to thank the Ajuda Library/IPPAR, the Art Library of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, the Naval Museum (Museu da Marinha) and Yoshi Miki, Kyushu National Museum for their help and support.

1 The Archives of the Portuguese Finance Ministry/Directorate-General of National Heritage, Proc. 4/F/199, 4th section, 21/06/1955.

2 The transaction was finalised for the sum of 1,300,000 yen. Archives of the Portuguese Finance Ministry/ Directorate-General of National Heritage, Proc. 381, 74. The screens were handed over to the Soares dos Reis National Museum on 26 July 1955 and their acquisition was reported in the local press, “Património Artístico de Portugal”, O Comércio do Porto (16/08/1955).

42 Paula Carneiro

tive contexts.3 The first studies about these works date to the early 1980s, when the first exhibition of Namban art was held at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in 1981,4 which included the collaboration of Japanese specia-lists, and studies were carried out at this time for the core of the national collections, with the assistance of Maria Helena Mendes Pinto.

At the end of the 1980s, an exhibition entitled Art Namban, Les Portugais au Japon, which was vice-curated by the Curator of the National Museum for Ancient Art, was part of the Europália 89 festival held in Brussels.5 The screens were then attributed to the Kano School and were tentatively dated to between 1600 and 1610, a classification that still stands as of today (Fig. 1).

Framing them in the context of the arrival of the Great Black Ship and the unloading of merchandise in the port of Nagasaki, Maria Helena Mendes Pinto based her description upon a comparison of coeval sources, mentioning the “(…) curious details confirmed by the letters of the Jesuits and the Históriado Japão by Luís Fróis”.6 Continuing her observations, she commented upon the details depicted in the “(…) house or tent of a Christian, identified by the cross on the curtain that covers the door” and also noted particularities of the representation such as “(…) the appearance of a new piece of furniture in Japan – the chair – indispensable for the Westerners and highly appreciated by upper class Japanese ever since, in 1581, Father Valignano, the Jesuit Visitor, had offered “a gilded chair upon which Nobunaga sat… so that the dignity of the chair was amply complemented”.7

This exhibition was remounted a year later at the National Museum for Ancient Art in Lisbon,8 under the same curator, and all the Namban screens of the national collections were put on display here. In the following year, incorporating Namban Art into a wider geographical context, Maria Helena Mendes Pinto organised a new exhibition entitled “Via Orientalis”, where the

3 Exposição Histórico-Militar de Homenagem a Mouzinho de Albuquerque, Oporto, 1958. JapanWorld Exposition, Osaka, 1970. Arte Namban, Lisbon, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, 1981. Art Namban, Les Portugais au Japon, Brussels, 1989. Arte Namban, Os Portugueses no Japão,Lisbon, National Museum for Ancient Art, 1990. Via Orientalis, Brussels, 1991. Un’ Avventura di Secoli per Inventare il Futuro, Genoa, 1992. Splendours of Art in Portugal, 1450-1850, Kyoto, Mamamatsu, Ashikawa, Chiba, Tokyo, 1999. Japan, Country of Beauty, Inaugural Exhibition, Kyushu National Museum, Japan, 2005.4 Arte Namban (exhibition catalogue), Lisbon, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, 1981, cat. 12.At this exhibition they were dated between 1590 and 1618.5 Maria Helena Mendes Pinto, Pedro Canavarro, Art Namban, Les Portugais au Japon,(exhibition catalogue), Brussels, Europália Foundation, 1989, cat. 15, 16.6 Mendes Pinto, op. cit., p. 50.7 Ibidem.8 Maria Helena Mendes Pinto, Arte Namban, Os Portugueses no Japão (exhibition catalogue), Lisbon, Fundação Oriente, 1990, p. 31, cat. 15, 16.

The voyage of the “Southern Barbarians” 43

Fig. 1 – Namban screens (pair)Unknown author

Japan, c. 1600-1610Soares dos Reis National Museum (Oporto)

Inv. 864/865 Mob MNSRCarlos Monteiro, Divisão de Documentação Fotográfica, Instituto Português de Museus (DDF/IPM)

44 Paula Carneiro

pair of Namban screens from the Soares dos Reis National Museum were once again shown.9

As the pieces had been manifesting conservation problems for a number of years, they were subjected to a thorough restoration at the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties in Tokyo between 2000 and 2002, within the scope of the “Project for Conservation of Works of Japanese Art in Foreign Collections”, a conservation programme for works of Japanese art outside Japan.10 In 2005, they again returned to Japan, as part of the inaugural exhibition of the Kyushu National Museum 11 where, for a brief span of time, they were once again in the place where they were created, the island of Kyushu, this being a significant expression of a far-reaching cultural encounter.

3. The origins of the theme The Arrival of the Southern Barbarians

The contacts established between Portuguese and Japanese from 1543 onwards, with the regular presence of Portuguese ships in the ports of the island of Kyushu, were characterised by a climate of cordiality and the development of common interests between the two cultures. The historical circumstances that prompted the appearance of the theme The Arrival of the Southern Barbarians in Japanese art underwent a period of great development for paintings of this kind in the pictorial panorama of Japan. Kano Mitsonobu, the artist to whom the creation of the original composition of the theme is attributed, came from a family of professional painters, founders of the famous Kano school, which was very influential in the field of Japanese paintings. Its artists had been responsible for the execution of the most prestigious commissioned works during the artistic period that was dubbed the Momoyama age, which coincided with the first wave of European influence heralded by the arrival of the Portuguese. In an era of Japanese history that was politically dominated by the daimyo warriors, the most celebrated names of the Kano school interpreted the victorious spirit of their military feats with great exuberance.12 By combining the techniques

9 Via Orientalis, (exhibition catalogue), Brussels, Europália Foundation, 1991, cat. 157.

10 “The Arrival of the Southern Barbarians, Conservation Report”, in Project for Conservation of Works of Japanese Art in Foreign Collections, Tokyo, 2002, pp. 23-49. During the restoration process a set of printed and handwritten documents on paper were removed from inside the panels. Having been returned to the Soares dos Reis National Museum, they await an opportunity to be translated and studied.

11 Japan, Country of Beauty, Inaugural Exhibition (exhibition catalogue), Kyushu National Museum, 2005, cat. 48.

12 Asahi Shimbun (ed.), Masterpieces of Japan, Agency of Cultural Affairs, Tokyo, 1999, p. 64.

The voyage of the “Southern Barbarians” 45

of painting with paint, originally from China (kanga), with the techniques of a form of Japanese painting known as yamato-e, a traditional style with delicate lines and deep colours,13 the character of these artists was revealed in large scale compositions, in screens realised in pairs with an extensive use of gold leaf made from pure gold,14 in an artistic exuberance described as a “golden euphoria”.15

Amongst his famous works, one of the most emblematic painters of this school, Kano Eitoku (1493-1590), had realised a large panoramic view of Kyoto and its surroundings, meticulously including innumerable details of the streets of the then capital of Japan, depicted during the Gion festival, providing an ample perspective of the city. These extremely complex works, replete with buildings and human figures, were precursors to the favourite themes of this genre of painting that developed towards the end of the century, depicting motifs from everyday life such as festivals, temple dances and entertainment scenes,16 themes that interpreted a flourishing urban culture. Compositions with the presence of human figures, along with depictions of streets and edifices, became one of the popular subjects of the machi-eschi,or the city painters of the Kano school.17

During the late 16th century, the subject of the arrival of the Portuguese was situated within the development of the contemporary motifs of this genre of painting.18 The execution of these works must have been destined for orders commissioned by prosperous Japanese merchants,19 probably reflecting their tastes and interests.

Originally, the theme was interpreted according to the elevated aesthetic canons of the Kano school. The set of screens attributed to Kano Domi, as also the set stamped with the seal of the painter Kano Naizen,20 both of which belong to the National Museum of Ancient Art, are ample proof of these standards and constitute a point of reference for the older compositions. These are works of great amplitude, on account of the numerous figures

13 Ibidem, pp. 26, 27.14 Christine Shimizu, L’Art Japonais, Paris, Flammarion, 2001, pp. 242-246.15 Albano Nogueira, Sobre os “Biombos Namban” (Presença de Portugal na Arte Japonesa), Lisbon,1953, p. 9.16 Elise Grilli, The Japanese Screen, New York & Tokyo, Weatherhill/Bijutsu Shuppan-Sha, 1971, p. 169.17 Yoshitomo Okamoto, The Namban Art of Japan, (translated by Ronald K. Jones), Tokyo-New York, Weatherhill/Heibonsha, 1972, p. 114.18 Shimizu, op. cit., pp. 246-248.19 Alexandra Curvelo, “An European Artistic City in Early Modern Japan” in Bulletin of Portuguese/Japanese Studies, vol. 2, (June 2001), p. 25.20 Maria Helena Mendes Pinto, Biombos Namban, 4th edition, Lisbon, Instituto Português de Museus, 1993, pp. 13-17.

46 Paula Carneiro

represented therein, the panoramic perspective with its accurate details and the spontaneity and freshness that are reflected in an action developed with great rhythm and vivacity. In the set of screens stamped with the seal of Kano Naizen, the virtuosity of the painter surpassed the difficulties of design that were inherent to the representation of motifs that were foreign to the Japanese pictorial programmes, such as the complex motif of the ship, or the represen-tation of the racial features of the nambanjin. In its nimble design dextrously drawn with a fine brush, the Southern Barbarians are transformed into delicate figures with graceful postures and rapid movements, their dresses and exuberant accessories are delineated with a level of detail that invites the viewer to seek an exhaustive analysis of the subject (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2 – Namban screenKano Naizen, Japan, c. 1603-1610

DetailNational Museum for Ancient Art (Lisbon)

Inv. 1641 Mov.Francisco Matias, DDF/IPM, IFN 00145

The voyage of the “Southern Barbarians” 47

4. The theme interpreted in the screens of the Soares dos Reis National Museum

According to the study by the Japanese specialist Tadao Takamizawa, who systematised the various approaches to the theme of the Arrival of the Southern Barbarians, this subject was interpreted in three different kinds of compositions.21 The set of Namban screens at the Soares dos Reis National Museum falls, according to his study, into the first category, with the represen-tation of the presence of the ship at the port in the left hand screen along with a panorama of the shore while the right hand screen depicts a perspective of the city of Nagasaki, a group of Portuguese and a Christian church. According to the same author, this typology of screens would have been executed between 1593 and 1605, a period where some of the oldest examples of this genre can be placed, following a compositional scheme created by the painter Kano Mitsunobu.22

The unknown creator of the pair of Namban screens of the Soares dos Reis National Museum, who observed the traditional composition associated with the Kano school identified with those of the oldest examples, followed a regular iconographic programme while inserting some singular elements.

Yasuhiro Sato states that the motivation of the painters in the oldest examples of the theme would have been to provide a narrative account, the reporting of commercial activities being the pictorial motif par excellence. The author corroborates this idea by mentioning examples of later works, in which the theme evolved from its original meaning, thus becoming a pure representation of the “exotic” phenomenon in order to delight the beholder.23

At first glance, such a realistic and direct painting would leave no room for a symbolic interpretation. However, this author reinforces his opinion by enumerating the various elements that are reformulated in order to highlight mercantile activity, both in the space within the composition dedicated to the transferral of merchandise from the ship, or the treatment of the ship itself, understood to be the cynosure of attention, the source of these coveted wares.24

The composition of the Namban screens at the Soares dos Reis National Musem can be placed within this interpretation, expressed in diverse elements that accentuate the commercial theme, such as the preponderance of the ship,

21 Tadao Takamizawa, “Biombos Namban”, Arte Namban (exhibition catalogue), Lisbon, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, 1981, pp. 18-19.22 Ibidem.23 Yasuhiro Sato, “Signs and Meanings in Namban Screens” (translated by Joseph Loh), Studiesin Art History, No. 18 (2002), p. 32.24 Ibidem.

48 Paula Carneiro

the transferral of the merchandise from the vessel to the shore, a narrative moment emphasised by the repetition of the motif and, finally, by the creative iconographic notes alluding to the mercantile theme.

5. Mercantile iconography

The ship has a dominant place in the composition, occupying the first three panels of the first screen in a representation in which reality, impressions and fantasy all mingle together. The sources state that it was always a large tonnage vessel or a cargo ship that realised the annual link between Macao and the ports of Japan, and it could vary between the typology of a nau or a galleon, although the latter only occasionally did this voyage.25 Both the nau as well as the galleon were robust ships, with a bulging shape and various decks, which were characterised by their gigantic dimensions, since Portuguese vessels of the 16th century could rise about fourteen metres above the level of the water.26

The artist depicted a bulging, not very stylised vessel and adulterated the representation of complex elements such as the masts and sails or the artillery on board, which is only partially represented, not in port flaps along the ship as would have been the custom, but instead placed in the spaces of the upper decks.27 These constituted motifs that would naturally capture the attention of the beholder: the quarterdeck, situated to the rear of the ship, was the most decorated area of the vessel, as it housed the captain-major and other important figures, and is thus attributed an excessively high degree of relevance. The balconies of the stern, a characteristic element of vessels dating from the late 16th century, which, according to the tonnage of the vessel, could extend along the corridors around the hull of the ship, constituted motifs of realistic representation,28 frequently utilised by the painters (Fig. 3 and 4). The utility of these elements lay in enabling the defence of a vulnerable area of the ship where the helm was located, and they could also be used as battle stations by shooters. These structures could also have roofs, as has been depicted in the screen (Fig. 5 and 6).

25 Charles Ralph Boxer, O Grande Navio de Amacau, 4th edition, Lisbon, Fundação Oriente & Museu e Centro de Estudos Marítimos de Macau, 1989, p. 12.26 João da Gama Pimentel Barata, Estudos de Arqueologia Naval, Lisbon, Imprensa Nacional--Casa da Moeda, 1989, vol. 1, p. 257.27 The information pertaining to the study of the vessel was kindly provided by the Naval Museum (Museu da Marinha), Lisbon (Proc. 53/96, Soares dos Reis National Museum Archives).28 Variations of the stern balconies can be found in diverse drawings of vessels by Manuel Fernandes, in Livro de Traças de Carpintaria, 1616, Ajuda Library, Lisbon.

Fig. 3 – Namban screenKano Naizen, Japan, c. 1603-1610

DetailNational Museum for Ancient Art (Lisbon)

Inv. 1641 Mov.Francisco Matias, DDF/IPM, IFN 00145

Fig. 4 – “Este he o modelo do galeam de quinhentas tonelladas tem”[“This is the model of the five hundred tonne galleon”]

Livro de Traças de Carpintaria, fl. 71v.Manuel Fernandes, 1616

Ajuda Library (Lisbon), IPPAR

50 Paula Carneiro

Fig. 5 – Detail of Fig. 1

Fig. 6 – “Este he o modelo do galeão de 200 toneladas acabada com toda a obra”[“This is the model of the 200 tonne galleon with all construction done”]

Livro de Traças de Carpintaria, fl. 102v.Manuel Fernandes, 1616

Ajuda Library (Lisbon), IPPAR

The voyage of the “Southern Barbarians” 51

The rowboats in movement that are approaching the shore allow one to ascertain the diversity of the wares being transported due to their profound detail. With a view to emphasising the moment, or in order to create unity within the composition,29 the movement of objects towards the shore con-tinues on the next screen. The representation of a structure overlooking the water where Southern Barbarians are shown seated, engaged in doing some accounts with the help of an abacus, the traditional instrument for calculations used in the Orient, fuels the continuity of the narrative. It is a highly original representation, probably a unique one, as has been revealed by studies carried out by Japanese mathematical researchers 30 (Fig. 7).

29 Sato, op. cit., p. 32.

30 The 100th Commemorative edition (March 2004) of WASAN – The Japanese Magazine for Mathematics, included a reproduction of the representation of the abacus, considered to be, according to research carried out by the mathematician Nobuyoshi Tanaka, a unique iconographic representation (Proc. 192, Ent. 560, 19/04/2004, Archives of the Soares dos Reis National Museum).

Fig. 8 – Detail of Fig. 1

Fig. 7 – Detail of Fig. 1

52 Paula Carneiro

Subsequently, the commercial theme is highlighted by means of an iconographic element related to the main product exported on the commercial axis between Japan and Macao: silver. Commercialised in ingots, without a fixed size, its value was determined by its weight.31 Documental sources mention the existence of silver chests (caixas de prata) 32 on the naus that set sail for Macao. In its facet as a means of reporting events, and within an iconographic programme in which elements pertaining to mercantile activities are accentuated, it is no surprise that the artist sought to document the important silver trade, by means of the representation of a merchant manipulating a weighing scale beside a chest (Fig. 8). The motif is placed amongst other motifs referring to the commerce that developed in Japan, more commonly represented by wares such as silk, in rolls or bales, porcelain objects or bureaus from China.

Fig. 9 – Detail of Fig. 1

31 Charles Ralph Boxer, O Grande Navio de Amacau, 4th edition Lisbon, Fundação Oriente & Centro de Estudos Marítimos de Macau, 1989, p. 317.

32 Ibidem.

The voyage of the “Southern Barbarians” 53

The most direct symbol of the “exotic” phenomenon, western attire, was drawn with great descriptive care. The artist differentiates between the different kinds of dress, synonymous with social distinctions, according to the rigid norms of European Renaissance clothing of the 16th century: aristocratic garments required a greater meticulousness in their representation, the painter lingered over the accessories – swords, lacework and gold chains – which he made shine against the black backdrop of the noble dress, and paid great attention to the ornamentation of the short capes 33 (Fig. 9). The artist was slightly more hurried while portraying the clothes of merchants and slaves, however he used the most vivid colours to depict them. With regard to the representation of human figures, he showed some hesitation while drawing brushstrokes that identified racial differentiation, these distinctions sometimes merely being limited to the use of colour.

6. The view of the city and the mission

“(…) These are the houses of the streets of the cities and settlements that are all normally commercial, and mercantile, establishments”.34

João Rodrigues Tçuzu, S.J., História da Igreja do Japão, 1620-1633, João do Amaral Abranches Pinto (ed.), Macao, Notícias de Macau, 1954, p. 194.

The mercantile establishments described by the Jesuit missionary were regularly drawn by painters who specialised in cities, set within a colourful and bustling urban framework, with local figures engaged in movements, with a touch of Japanese sensibility, which, in one of its multiple facets deals with the direct and everyday world.

In the foreground, the wares displayed in the shops linked with commerce with the nambanjin are shown as though to report on them, with highly accurate details, clear symbols of the phenomenon of cultural interaction (Fig. 10).

On a religious plane, the signs of cultural interaction have a more discreet presence, and it could even be that the painter was intentionally circumspect in his treatment of the issue. As Maria Helena Mendes Pinto has observed, a house of converted Japanese is depicted, identified by the presence of a cross

33 Madalena Farrajota Ataíde Garcia, Traje Namban (exhibition catalogue), Lisbon, National Museum for Ancient Art/ Portuguese Institute for Museums, 1994, pp. 50-58.

34 “(...) são as cazas das ruas das Cidades, e povoaçens que ordinariamente são todas de trato, e mercancia.”

54 Paula Carneiro

Fig. 10 – Detail of Fig. 1

on the curtain,35 a motif that probably had a symbolic character, which, when associated with figures from the mendicant orders (Dominicans, with white habits and black capes and barefoot Franciscans with brown habits), dates the representation to a particular period of Luso-Japanese relations and expresses, by means of subtle signs, the debility of the religious conjuncture. The situation of the Society of Jesus, which, via a papal bull had an exclusive monopoly over missionary activities in Japanese territory, changed from 1587 onwards, after a period of prosperity of the mission in which the Jesuit mother-house was established in Nagasaki. The date on which the decree that ordered the withdrawal of the missionaries from the country was issued, inaugurated

35 Maria Helena Mendes Pinto, Art Namban, Les Portugais au Japon (exhibition catalogue), Brussels, Europália 89, p. 50.

The voyage of the “Southern Barbarians” 55

a period of instability and pressure for the missionaries.36 The new political circumstances that resulted in a loss of independence in Portugal and the union of the Iberian Crowns enabled the entry of the mendicant orders into Japan, from 1592 onwards, who came from the territories of the Philippines, under Spanish administration, and who interpreted the anti-Christian decree of 1587 as disapproval of the activities of the Jesuit missionaries,37 thus leading to the loss of exclusiveness for the Jesuit mission in Japan.

In Japan, the Society of Jesus had followed singular concepts of evangelisation introduced by Alessandro Valignano, the Jesuit visitor, based on principles of a Humanistic nature, in which the acceptance and tolerance of cultural diversity guided their actions. These concepts were methodologi-cally based upon an effective awareness, acquired via their experiences, of the nature of the area in which they worked, and followed a policy of adapting to Japanese society, which included the assimilation of ceremonial aspects of this society by the missionaries.38

Traces of the widespread phenomenon of the acculturation of the Jesuit missionaries with regard to Japanese society can be found, according to João Paulo Oliveira e Costa, in the Jesuit missions and churches represented in the Namban screens.39 According to the same author, these buildings would have followed a local style of architecture in Japan, unlike the other overseas territories evangelised by Portuguese missionaries in which the churches were constructed according to models of Western plans.40

Local architecture and the assimilation of cultural habits are interpreted in the distance away from the mercantile city, via the representation of a Japanese temple almost hidden in golden clouds, where the Christian mission is identified by a cross and the figures inside it, the Southern Barbarians,follow local cultural practices, thus setting the final seal on the methodical report by the Japanese artist.

36 See João Paulo Oliveira e Costa, “Japão, um caso peculiar da expansão lusíada”, in Oliveira Marques, História dos Portugueses no Extremo Oriente, vol. I, tome II, Lisbon, Fundação Oriente, 2000, pp. 408-412.37 Ibidem, p. 413.38 Pedro Lage Reis Correia, “Alessandro Valignano’s attitude towards Jesuit and Franciscan concepts of evangelization in Japan (1587-1597)”, in Bulletin of Portuguese/Japanese Studies, vol. 2 (June 2001), pp. 92 onwards.39 João Paulo Oliveira e Costa, “16th and 17th Century Japanese Churches: An Intermingling of Religious and Artistic Sensibilities”, in Oriental Art, vol. XLVII, No. 5 (2001), pp. 49-52.40 Oliveira e Costa, op. cit., p. 52.

56 Paula Carneiro

Abstract

The pair of Namban screens at the Soares dos Reis National Museum has been part of Portugal’s national collection since 1955. The anonymous artist followed the traditional composition associated with the Kano school, in conformance with the oldest examples of this theme, thus realising a regular iconographic programme while inserting some singular elements.

The composition followed an interpretation in which reality and impressions co-existed. The main theme, mercantile activities, was expressed in diverse components, such as the preponderance of the ship, the transferral of merchandise from the ship to the shore, a narrative moment emphasised by the repetition of the motif, as well as in the creative iconographic symbols alluding to the theme.

Resumo

O par de Biombos Namban do Museu Nacional de Soares dos Reis integra as colecções nacionais desde 1955. O seu autor, desconhecido, observou a composição tradicional associada à Escola de Kano e conotada com as dos mais antigos exemplares, cumprindo um programa iconográfico regular e inserindo algumas notas singulares.

A composição seguiu uma interpretação em que coexistiram realidade e impres-são. A temática dominante, a actividade mercantil, foi expressa em diversos compo-nentes, como a preponderância do navio, a passagem das mercadorias do barco para a margem, momento narrativo enfatizado pela repetição do motivo, e ainda pelas criativas marcas iconográficas alusivas à temática.

要約

ソアレス・ドス・レイス国立美術館にある二対の南蛮屏風は１９５５年以後ポルトガル国立コレクションに入った。この作品は狩野派の流れを汲む何がしかの芸術家の筆によるものではあるが稀有な要素を取り入れている。現実と印象とが織り交ぜてあり、その主題である商業活動は船の大きさ、商品の水揚げなどで描かれている。