Word & Image

A Journal of Verbal/Visual Enquiry

ISSN: 0266-6286 (Print) 1943-2178 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/twim20

Words for images and images for words: an

iconological and scriptural study of the Christian
prints in the Chengshi moyuan 程氏墨苑

Rui Oliveira Lopes

To cite this article: Rui Oliveira Lopes (2017) Words for images and images for words: an
iconological and scriptural study of the Christian prints in the Chengshi moyuan 程氏墨苑, Word &
Image, 33:1, 87-107, DOI: 10.1080/02666286.2016.1263137

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02666286.2016.1263137

Published online: 15 Mar 2017.

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Download by: [University of Brunei Darussalam] Date: 22 March 2017, At: 16:51

1 – Matteo Ricci, Opere Storiche del P. Matteo
Ricci, S.I., ed. Pietro Tacchi Venturi
(Macerata: Premiato stab. tip. F. Giorgetti,
1913), 284.
WORD & IMAGE, VOL. 33, NO. 1, 2017
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02666286.2016.1263137
Words for images and images for
words: an iconological and scriptural
study of the Christian prints in the
Chengshi moyuan 程氏墨苑
RUI OLIVEIRA LOPES
Abstract The early seventeenth century is noted for the fruitful cultural, religious, and
artistic exchange between Europe and the Chinese imperial court. The missionaries of the
Society of Jesus (Societas Iesu) became a prominent bridge connecting the two distinct cultures,
where the main differences were, at the same time, the reason for their mutual allure. At that
time, Jesuit priests, such as Matteo Ricci (1552–1610), João da Rocha (1587–1639), and Giulio
Aleni (1582–1649), contributed significantly not only to the dissemination of Christianity in
Beijing, Nanjing, and other important cities beyond the Portuguese administration of
Macau, but also to the transmission of Western knowledge and technology. Along with
the flow of goods and rare commodities brought from Europe which overwhelmed the
Chinese emperors of the late Ming and High Qing courts, Western art was introduced into
China as a synthesis of visual science, artistic sophistication, and eloquence, explaining why it
became so valuable, particularly during the time of the three Qing emperors, Kangxi (1654–
1722), Yongzheng (1678–1735), and Qianlong (1711–99). The modus operandi in the apostolic
ministry of the Society of Jesus around the world is well known for the use of images as a
visual explanation of Christian doctrine, particularly in China, India, and Japan. The
Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola (Exercitia Spiritualia), composed between 1522 and 1524,
suggests that the images should be referred to as a reflection on the word, demonstrating the
complementary function between text and images in the explanation of Christian teachings.
This article discusses the agency of one of the earliest sets of European prints used in the
context of the Jesuit mission in China as a visual explanation of biblical teachings. By means
of iconographic examination and iconological approach, it examines how Christian prints
included in the Chengshi moyuan 程氏墨苑 (The Ink Garden of Mr. Cheng) were used as a visual
reasoning of the scriptures, demonstrating that the three biblical prints were linked to each
other and purposely put together as a result of a doctrinal program.
Keywords European prints in China, artistic exchange, Jesuits in China, Matteo
Ricci, Chengshi moyuan, Ming dynasty, spiritual exercises
This book [Evangelicae Historiae Imagines] is of even greater use than the Bible in
the sense that while we are in the middle of talking to potential converts, we
can also place right in front of their eyes things that with words alone we would
not be able to make clear.1
The first decades of the sixteenth century marked the beginning of a new
chapter in artistic exchange between Europe and China, characterized by an
extensive circulation of rare objects and exotic commodities. These objects
were appreciated for their fine materials but also for the virtuosity of the
skilled craftsmanship. European taste and consumption of luxuries brought
from the Far East promptly resulted in the formation of extensive collections
of porcelain, textiles, furniture, and other rarities from the Middle Kingdom.
The possession of these collections became a way of marking out European
elites.
87
# 2017 Taylor & Francis
 Chinese emperors were also enthusiastic collectors of European commod- 2 – Berthold Laufer, “Christian Art in
China,” Ostasiatische Studien 13 (1910): 100–18;
ities brought by religious men and diplomatic envoys, contributing signifi- Paul Pelliot, “La Peinture et la gravure
cantly to a shift in the visual arts in China, particularly in the High Qing européennes en Chine au temps de Mathieu
court. Additionally, the Catholic missions in China, especially those led by Ricci,” T’oung Pao 20 (1921): 7–11; Arthur
Waley, “Ricci and Tung Ch‘i-Ch‘ang,”
Jesuit missionaries, benefited from local production of Christian iconography
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies
for the transmission of the essential teachings of Christianity and the spread 2, no. 2 (1922): 342–43; Pasquale d’Delia, Le
of European culture. origini dell’arte cristiana cinese (1583–1640)
The Jesuit missions in Asia made extensive use of European prints to (Rome: Reale Accademia d’Italia, 1939);
John McCall, “Early Jesuit Art in the Far
illustrate the translation of Christian literature into local languages. Besides East,” Artibus Asiae 10, no. 3 (1947): 216–33.
the eloquence of its visual rhetoric value in the explanation of text, More recently, other scholars have been
European prints could be transported and reproduced with relative ease. studying the artistic impact of European art
and artists in Late Ming and early Qing
During the seventeenth century there were many illustrated Chinese texts dynasty China: Michael Sullivan, The Meeting
printed in China using European prints as prototypes. Interestingly, the of Eastern and Western Art (New York: Graphic
earliest example of the reproduction of European prints is not a Christian Society, 1973); Ta Hsiang, “European
Influences on Chinese Art in the Later Ming
Chinese text, but a catalogue of ink stone designs compiled by a Chinese
and Early Ch’ing Period,” Renditions 6 (1976):
literatus, Cheng Dayue, entitled Chengshi moyuan 程氏墨苑 (The Ink Garden of 152–78; Jonathan Spence, The Memory Palace
Mr. Cheng). The earliest copies of Chengshi moyuan printed in 1605 reproduce of Matteo Ricci (London: Penguin, 1984);
three European engravings, two designed by Maarten de Vos and engraved Harrie Vanderstappen, “Chinese Art and the
Jesuits in Peking,” in East Meets West: The
by Anton Wierix II, and one designed and engraved by Crispijn de Passe the Jesuits in China, 1582–1773, ed. Charles Ronan
Elder. Later editions of the Chengshi moyuan add one more print by and Bonnie Oh (Chicago: Loyola University
Hieronimus Wierix representing Virgen de la Antiqua. Press, 1988), 103–26; Carmen Guarino, “The
Interpretation of Images in Matteo Ricci’s
A few years later, a series of European engravings were used as a proto- Pictures for ‘Cheng shi mo yuan,’” Ming Qing
type to illustrate a Chinese translation of the Rosary by the Portuguese Jesuit yan jiu 6 (1997): 21–44; Li-Chiang Lin, “The
João da Rocha, entitled Song nianzhu guicheng 誦念珠規程 (Rules for Reciting the Proliferation of Images: The Ink-Stick
Designs and the Printing of the ‘Fang-Shih
Rosary), published in Nanjing c.1619. All fifteen illustrations derived from the
Mo-P’u’ and the ‘Ch’eng-Shih Mo-Yuan’”
well-known volume entitled Evangelicae Historiae Imagines (Illustrations of the (Ph.D. diss., Princeton University, 1998);
Gospel Stories), organized by the Spanish Jesuit Jerónimo Nadal in 1593. Nicholas Standaert, “Chinese Prints and
Then, Giulio Aleni compiled another illustrated book in Chinese, entitled their European Prototypes: Schall’s ‘Jin
Cheng shu xiang,’” Print Quarterly 23, no. 3
Tianzhu Jiangsheng Chuxiang jingjie 天主降生言行纪略 (Explanations on the (2006): 231–53; Nicholas Standaert, An
Incarnation of the Lord of Heaven). This book, published in Jinjiang Illustrated ‘Life of Christ’ Presented to the Chinese
(Quangzhou) in 1637, includes fifty-six engravings and a map of Jerusalem, Emperor: The History of ‘Jin cheng shu xiang’
(1640) (Sankt Augustin: Institut monumenta
also taking the European prints in Nadal’s work as a reference. serica, 2007); Gianni Criveller, “Jesuits’
During the seventeenth century other illustrated Christian Chinese texts Visual Culture Accommodation in China
were printed under the auspices of the Jesuit missions in China, demonstrat- during the Last Decades of the Ming
Dynasty,” Ming Qing Studies (2010): 219–30;
ing the relevance of visual composition to the missionary work, not only in
Noël Golvers, “Circulation of Prints and
China but also in other important places where the Jesuits were making Engravings between China and Europe
significant progress, namely in India, Japan, and South America. As such, (17th–18th Centuries),” in Building Humanistic
many scholars have been studying the various aspects related to the use of Libraries in Late Imperial China, Circulation of

European prints in the Jesuit missions.2

Books, Prints and Letters between Europe and China
(XVIIth/XVIII Centuries) in the Framework of the
This article is exclusively focused in the intersection between the image/ Jesuit Mission, ed. Noël Golvers (Rome and
text observed in the Christian prints included in the Chengshi moyuan, the Leuven: Nuova Cultura, 2011), 131–71;
Cheng-Hua Wang, “Prints in Sino-European
Bible scriptures their the prints illustrate, and the captions and commen- Artistic Interactions of the Early Modern
taries by Matteo Ricci that were added to the prints in the 1606 edition of Period,” in Face to Face: The Transcendence of the
the Chengshi moyuan. Arts in China and Beyond, Vol. I of 2: Historical
Perspectives, ed. Rui Oliveira Lopes (Lisbon:
One of the earliest sets of Christian engravings printed in China is found
Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Lisbon,
in an encyclopedic album of ink stone designs compiled by Cheng Dayue, 2014), 424–57; Andrea Catellani,
published shortly after 1605 with the title Chengshi moyuan. Surprisingly, “L’Iconographie jésuite de la Chine: Note
amidst the traditional Buddhist and Daoist iconography are also found sémiotique sur quelques séries d’images du
17e siècle,” in Transferts artistiques: Entre Orient
four reproductions of European prints with Christian subjects. Three of et Occident, du 17e au 21e siècle, ed. Paul Servais
these prints illustrate Biblical stories: Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah; Christ (Paris: Editions Academia, 2014), 113–29.

88 RUI OLIVEIRA LOPES

Figure 1. Christ Appearing to Simon Peter and the
Miraculous Draught of Fishes, from the Chengshi
moyuan (1606 ed.), bk XI. 31.7 × 18.0 centi-
meters. National Palace Museum, Taipei.

Appearing to Simon Peter and the Miraculous Draught of Fishes; and The Journey to
Emmaus, whilst the fourth print is an iconic reproduction of the Virgen de la
Antiqua (figures 1–4).

Art and the Jesuit missions in China

During the sixteenth century, the relationship between European mission-
aries, merchants, and Chinese mandarins was marked by both progress and
setbacks. In 1508, three years before the conquest of Malacca by Afonso de
Albuquerque, the Portuguese king, Manuel I, received the first news about
the lands of the Chinese (terras de chins). Afterwards, Manuel immediately
ordered Diogo Lopes de Sequeira to find more about the:

chins, e de que partes vêm, e de quão longe, e de quando em quando vêm a

3 – Afonso de Albuquerque, Cartas de Affonso
de Albuquerque, Seguidas de Documentos Que as
Elucidam, ed. Raymundo António de Bulhão
Pato (Lisbon: Typ. da Academia real das
sciencias de Lisboa, 1898).
Malaca, ou deles vêm cada ano, e pelas feições de suas naus, e se tornam no
ano em que vêm e se têm feitores ou casas em Malaca, ou em outra alguma
terra, e se são mercadores ricos, e se são homens fracos, se guerreiros e se têm
armas e artilharia [. . .] se são cristãos se gentios ou se é grande terra a sua e se
tem mais de um rei entre eles [. . .].3
Chinese, where they come from, and from how far, if they come to Malacca
from time to time, or every year, the features of their ships, if they return in the
year that they arrive, if they have traders or houses in Malacca, or in some
other land, if they are rich merchants, if they are weak men, warriors, and if

WORD & IMAGE 89

 Figure 2. The Journey to Emmaus, from the
Chengshi moyuan (1606 ed.), bk XI. 31.7 × 18.0
centimeters. National Palace Museum,
Taipei.

they have weapons and artillery [. . .] if they are Christians or gentiles, or if

their land is great, and if they have more than one King among them [. . .].

However, the first attempts to establish trading posts in the most impor-
tant ports in Guangzhou, led by Jorge Álvares (1513), and later by Fernão
Peres de Andrade and Tomé Pires (1518), demonstrate the lack of accurate
information about the imperial Chinese tributary system.
Actually, it was the Jesuits’ strategy of approach that changed the course of
the relationship between China and Europe. In 1549, Francis Xavier joined
the Jesuit mission in Japan. There, he understood the prominence that China
had in the broad context of Asian civilizations, where the conversion of the
Chinese emperor would be the starting point for the foundation of a res publica
christiana in the Far East. Prepared with the information provided by the
Portuguese captives in Canton, which, for the first time, gave a more or less
accurate idea about the great empire of China, Francis Xavier left Japan and
returned to Goa in India in December 1551. From there he sailed in 1552 to
initiate the first Jesuit mission in China. The death of Francis Xavier on
Shangchuan Island, four months after his arrival in South China, stirred the
spirit of other missionaries who were inspired by his example and engaged in
the continuing task of the Christian missions in China.
In 1556, while in southern China, Frei Gaspar da Cruz in his book Tratado
das coisas da China, stated: “he impossivel poderem religiosos pregar nem
frutificar” (it is impossible for religious men to preach and to make

90 RUI OLIVEIRA LOPES

Figure 3. The Sodomites Blinded Before Lot’s
House, from the Chengshi moyuan (1606 ed.), bk
XI. 31.7 × 18.0 centimeters. National Palace
Museum, Taipei.
4 – Frei Gaspar Cruz, Tractado Em Que Se Co
[m]tam Muito Por Este[n]so as Cousas Da China,
Co[n] Suas Particularidades, [E] Assi Do Reyno
Dormuz (Évora: André de Burgos, 1569).
Christianity fruitful [in China]). For Cruz, the mission could only continue if
the Portuguese king sent an embassy directly to the Forbidden City.4
The Jesuit missions in China benefited extensively from the establishment
of the Portuguese in Macau in 1554, followed by the foundation of the Jesuit
College of St Paul in 1572. In addition, the trade routes that granted the
connection between Portuguese India and Japan enabled the circulation and
settlement of missionaries in the main trading ports in China, particularly in
Canton.
In 1578, Alessandro Valignano, Visitor of the Society of Jesus in the East,
went to Macau to oversee the progress of the missions in China. Realizing
that the success of the mission in mainland China was reliant on the ability
to communicate in Chinese, and showing an appreciation of intellectual
knowledge, Valignano chose Michele Ruggieri to lead the Mission of China,
supported later in 1582 by Francesco Pasio and Ricci. The high degree of
erudition of Jesuit missionaries, often compared with that of important
imperial officials, allowed them to be successful in several cities, homes,
and places of worship in Zhaoqin (1584), Shaozhou (1590), Nanchang
(1595), and Nanjing (1599).
Evidently, the success of the Jesuit missions in China relied heavily on the
translation of Christian literature into the Chinese language. Printed books
were an important medium not only for the spread of Christianity and
preaching work, but also because they played a fundamental role in the
WORD & IMAGE 91
 Figure 4. Virgen de la Antiqua, from the
Chengshi moyuan (1606 ed.), bk XI. 31.7 × 18.0
centimeters. National Palace Museum,
Taipei.

92 RUI OLIVEIRA LOPES


5 – Cultural and intellectual exchange
between Europe and China during the late
Ming and early Qing period has been dis-
cussed at length by various scholars. Many of
these studies are particularly focused on the
translation of European books into Chinese;
Donald Lach, Asia in the Making of Europe
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1965);
Charles Ronan and Bonnie Oh, eds, East
Meets West: The Jesuits in China 1582–1773
(Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1988);
Gauvin Alexander Bailey, Art in the Jesuit
Missions in Asia and Latin-America, 1542–1773
(Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999);
Nicholas Standaert, “The Transmission of
Renaissance Culture in Seventeenth-Century
China,” Renaissance Studies 17, no. 3 (2003):
367–91; Tsuen-hsuin Tsien, “Western Impact
on China through Translation,” Far Eastern
Quarterly, 13, no. 3 (2001), 305–327.; Nicholas
Standaert, Handbook of Christianity in China,
Vol. I: 635–1800 (Leiden: Brill, 2001); Paola
Demattè, “Christ and Confucius:
Accommodating Christian and Chinese
beliefs,” in China on Paper: European and Chinese
Works from the Late Sixteenth to the Early
Nineteenth Century, ed. Marcia Reed and Paola
Demattè (Los Angeles: Getty Research
Institute, 2007), 29–52; Tobie Meyer-Fong,
“The Printed World: Books, Publishing
Culture, and Society in Late Ming Imperial
China,” Journal of Asian Studies 66, no. 3
(2007): 787–817.
6 – Yao-ting Wang, New Visions at the Ch’ing
Court: Giuseppe Castiglione and the Western-Style
Trends (Taipei: National Palace Museum,
2007), 142.
7 – Further studies on the use of the Lord’s
Prayer in the Jesuit Missions in China during
the late Ming and early Qing period can be
pursued by examining one undated exem-
plar of the Tien chu ching chieh, published by
the Catholic church of Beijing under the
censorship of Niccolò Longobardo, Francisco
Furtado, and Adam Schall von Bell. The
book (JapSin I, 147a) is an explanation of the
Lord’s Prayer from beginning to end, pre-
ceded with a general introduction and the
prayer.
8 – Ignatius of Loyola, The Spiritual Exercises of
St. Ignatius of Loyola, ed. Charles Seager
(London: Charles Dolman, 1847), 1.
prestige-building of the Jesuits among the Chinese intellectual class. Like the
Jesuits, Chinese literati were also book-minded, devoting their time to read-
ing and writing. Naturally, following the Jesuit policy of accommodation,
many of the European books translated into Chinese were meant to serve
the interest of Chinese literati in Western scientific and humanistic knowl-
edge. As a result, the translation of European books of mathematical,
astronomical, mechanics, horological, geographical, but also of religious–
philosophical content paved the way for an intensive cultural exchange
between Europe and China and greater access to the imperial authorities.5
Finally, on January 24, 1601, Ricci, attended by the Spaniard Diego de
Pantoja and two Chinese coadjutor brothers, Zhong Mingren and You
Wenhui (baptized as Sebastião Fernandes and Manuel Pereira), received
permission to offer their tribute to Emperor Wan Li. The memorial by
Ricci, directed to Wan Li, was as follows:
I hereby reverently present the following to Your Majesty: one painting of
Jesus, two paintings of the Mother of Jesus, one copy of the Lord’s Prayer, a
precious inlaid cross, two chiming clocks, a gazetteer map of the world, and an
elegant zither. Although these objects are not befitting [enough for Your
Majesty], they are tribute from far away in the West and are very different
from objects [ordinarily seen].6
The content and nature of the memorial that Ricci humbly addresses to the
sovereign of the Chinese empire reveals the interest the Chinese had in exotic
commodities sent from the West, as well as their curiosity regarding the scientific
knowledge introduced to China by the Jesuits. In addition, the memorial also
demonstrates the role that images had as a visual complement to Christian texts.
A close examination of Ricci’s memorial clearly shows a link between the
paintings, the inlaid cross, and the copy of the Lord’s Prayer. In Matthew
6:9–19 and also in Luke 11:1–4, Jesus taught the disciples a model prayer,
which became known as the Lord’s Prayer. These verses of the Bible were
among the first to be translated into several languages and were widespread
by the second half of the sixteenth century. The scriptures (Matthew 6:9–10
and Luke 11:2) emphasize three key aspects of the apostolic ministry of the
Society of Jesus: God’s universal sovereignty, God’s love, and God’s king-
dom. The meditation on the Lord’s Prayer will become clearer upon the
meditation on the mystery of God’s universal redemption, made possible by
the Incarnation and the redemptive death of God the Son, Jesus Christ.
While the two paintings of the Mother of Jesus illustrate the means of Jesus’s
Incarnation and human nature, the painting of Jesus demonstrates that “the
Word was made flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). Lastly, the inlaid
cross illustrates the redemptive death of God the Son and the Divine Grace
of God the Father, who “commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we
were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).7
The offer of the Lord’s Prayer, together with the paintings and the cross,
clearly demonstrates that Ricci was putting into practice some of the instruc-
tions given by Ignatius of Loyola in the Spiritual Exercises (Exercitia Spiritualia,
published 1548). The Spiritual Exercises were meant for every “method of
examining one’s own conscience; also of meditating, contemplating, praying
mentally and vocally, and, finally, of performing any other spiritual opera-
tions, as will be said hereafter.”8 With this purpose, the exercises were
WORD & IMAGE 93
divided into four “weeks,” giving instructions for contemplation and medita-
tion on a wide range of themes, such as sin, the Life of Jesus, the Passion of
Jesus, and the Resurrection of Jesus. At the beginning of the first exercise,
Loyola instructs that one should construct a scene, by means of imagination,
to represent the things upon which we meditate and contemplate. Loyola
defines this as a “prelude” or preliminary composition of a place (compositio
loci) to settle the atmosphere for spiritual experience. The prelude is
described as follows:

The first prelude is a certain way of constructing the place [or scene]; for which
it must be noted, that in every meditation or contemplation about bodily
things, as for example about Christ, we must form, according to a certain
imaginary vision, a bodily place representing what we contemplate; as the
temple, or a mountain, in which we may find Christ Jesus, or the Virgin Mary,
and the other things which concern the subject of our contemplation. But if the
subject of meditation be an incorporeal thing, as is the consideration of sins
now offered, the construction of the place may be such as if by imagination we
see our soul in this corruptible body, as confined in a prison; and man himself,
in this vale of misery, an exile among brute animals.9 9 – Ibid., 27–28.

Setting the atmosphere for spiritual exercise by means of visualization was

considered essential to enhancing divine contemplation and meditation.
Nevertheless, as pointed out by Nicolas Standaert, some commentators
warn against the danger of dwelling too much on physical images, such as
paintings or sculptures, instead of rationally “pass[ing] from visible things to
invisible.”10 Therefore, Loyola’s prelude on visual composition was taken as 10 – Nicolas Standaert, “The Composition of
useful but secondary. It was the means to an end but not the end itself. Place: Creating Space for an Encounter,”
The Way 46, no. 1 (2007): 7–20.
In the Spiritual Exercises, Loyola recognized that setting a visual and
imaginary composition of the scene upon which to meditate allows the one
who meditates to be present in that specific place and time of the sacred
history (in illo tempore). In this regard, the directory of the Spanish Jesuit Gil
González Dávila even quotes Pseudo-Bonaventure, author of Meditations of the
Life of Jesus: “In the composition of place the exercitant should remember that
he is present to the entire event, as St Bonaventure says in the prologue to his
life of Christ.”11 Pictures also can be helpful for anyone who lacks an imagin- 11 – Short Directory 26:41, apud Standaert,
ary vision, as mentioned in the Short Directory to the Spiritual Exercises (1580s) 2007, p. 10.

Many people find it quite hard to make a composition of place, straining their
heads in the attempt. Those who have difficulty with it should be told to recall
a painting of the history they have seen on an altar or elsewhere, e.g. a painting
of the judgment or of hell, or of Christ’s Passion.12 12 – Official Directory of 1599 Dir. 43:124, apud
Standaert, 2007, p. 11.
The Directories pointed out the benefits of imaginary vision and the use of
paintings of sacred history in the practice of meditation but also the dangers, 13 – Ibid.
such as “dwelling excessively on constructing this representation of the 14 – Gregorii I Papae Registrum Epistularum II, 1,
place,” as this “is not the primary fruit of the meditation but only a way lib. IX, 208, p. 195, and II, 2, lib. XI, 10, pp.
270–71.
and an instrument toward it.”13 This recalls two letters written by Pope 15 – Herbert L. Kessler, “Gregory the Great
Gregory the Great c.600 to Serenus, Bishop of Marseilles, in defense of the and Image Theory in Northern Europe
use of images in teaching. Gregory was also aware of the dangers and agreed during the Twelfth and Thirteenth
that images should not be adored.14 However, he recognized that paintings Centuries,” in A Companion to Medieval Art:
Romanesque and Gothic in Northern Europe, ed.
were extremely useful for teaching the faith to gentiles and illiterate Conrad Rudolph (Massachusetts: Blackwell,
Christians, “who read in them what they cannot read in books”15 and that 2006), 151–72.

94 RUI OLIVEIRA LOPES


16 – Ricci/Tacchi Venturi, Opere Storiche,
284.
17 – Rui Oliveira Lopes, “Arte e Alteridade:
Confluências da Arte Cristã na Índia, na
China e no Japão, séc. XVI a XVIII” (Ph.D.
diss. Universidade de Lisboa, 2011), 407–15.
images could also serve to recall the sacred history and activate emotions
that lead the faithful toward the contemplation of God.
Either during the Middle Ages and later, during the sixteenth and seven-
teenth centuries, many religious men supported the use of images as an
appropriate means of liturgical and meditative prayer. By the end of the
sixteenth century, the Spanish Jesuit Jerónimo Nadal, instigated by Ignatius
Loyola, was pivotal in the promulgation of the Spiritual Exercises, through the
compilation and distribution of an illustrated guide for prayerful meditation
on the Gospels. Nadal selected the Biblical scenes to be illustrated and
oversaw the work of the artists commissioned to produce the images. The
first edition was posthumously published in 1593 in a volume entitled
Evangelicae Historiae Imagines (Illustrations of the Gospel Stories) arranged chron-
ologically according to the life and ministry of Jesus. In 1594 and 1595,
Nadal’s work was extended, rearranged, and published with a new title:
Adnotationes et Meditationes in Evangelia (Notes and Meditations on the Gospels),
including 153 engravings eventually produced by Bernardino Passeri,
Maarten de Vos, and Jerome and Anton Wierix II.
Although the main purpose of this compilation was to teach novices of the
Society of Jesus how to pray, its impact reached as far as the Jesuit missions
overseas in Latin America, India, China, and Japan. Ricci considered
Nadal’s Evangelicae Historiae Imagines (figures 5 and 6), “of even greater use
than the Bible in the sense that while we are in the middle of talking to
potential converts, we can also place right in front of their eyes things that
with words alone we would not be able to make clear.”16
The use of Nadal’s work in the Jesuit missions was extensive immediately
after it was published. As early as 1595, the third mission of the Jesuits at the
Mughal court, led by Jerónimo Xavier, Manuel Pinheiro, and Bento de
Goes, had the privilege of having a copy of Nadal’s Evangelicae Historiae
Imagines, although they were also accompanied by an anonymous
Portuguese painter to serve the Mughal court with copies of Christian
paintings.
Early editions of Nadal’s work were also used in the Jesuit missions in
China by the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, as shown by
Ricci’s statement and the illustrated catechisms composed by João da Rocha
(Song nianzhu guicheng 誦念珠規程; Rules for reciting the Rosary, 1619) and Giulio
Aleni (Tianzhu Jiangsheng Chuxiang jingjie 天主降生言行纪略; Explanations on
the Incarnation of the Lord of Heaven, 1637).
Ricci’s statement about the Evangelicae Historiae Imagines explains why it was
widely used in the Jesuit missions in Asia. First, the juxtaposition of image
and text, with the image standing as a reflection of the word, facilitated the
explanation of sacred histories and Christian teachings that words alone
could not make clear, especially for people who had no background in Bible
history and Christian teachings. Second, research on the Jesuit missions in
India and China, particularly the late sixteenth and early seventeenth
centuries, demonstrates a lack of artistic skills to produce Christian imagery,
either to decorate the churches, for personal devotion, or to use in preach-
ing. Whenever possible, Christian iconography was imported from Europe
or reproduced locally, preferably by local artists who had converted, though
this was not always the case.17
WORD & IMAGE 95
 Figure 5. Jesus Walks on the Sea, from
Evangelicae Historiae Imagines: ex ordine euange-
liorum, quae toto anno in missae sacrificio recitantur,
in ordinem temporis vitae Christi digestae (1593),
designed by Bernardino Passeri and printed
by Anton Wierix II. Engraving. 23 × 14
centimeters. Getty Research Institute
Library, Los Angeles, accession no. 3009-135.

Recently, in a study on the reception of the Evangelicae Historiae Imagines in

the context of Buddhist devotional culture, Junhyoung Michael Shin argues
that Nadal’s compilation was used as “a meditative manual expounding the 18 – Junhyoung Michael Shin, “The
Jesuit’s exquisite methodology of visually orientated contemplation.”18 This Reception of Evangelicae Historiae Imagines in
Late Ming China: Visualizing Holy
can be compared with the similar tradition of meditation and spiritual Topography in Jesuit Spirituality and Pure
contemplation among the Chinese followers of Pure Land Buddhism. Land Buddhism,” Sixteenth Century Journal 40,
no. 2 (2009): 303–33.

96 RUI OLIVEIRA LOPES

Figure 6. The Same Day Jesus Appears to Two
Disciples Going to Emmaus, from Evangelicae
Historiae Imagines: ex ordine euangeliorum, quae toto
anno in missae sacrificio recitantur, in ordinem tem-
poris vitae Christi digestae (1593), designed by
Bernardino Passeri and printed by Anton
Wierix II. Engraving. 23 × 14 centimeters.
Getty Research Institute Library, Los
Angeles, accession no. 3009-135.

19 – Laufer, “Christian Art in China”;

Pelliot, “Peinture et la gravure”; Sullivan,
Meeting of Eastern and Western Art;
Hsiang, “European Influences on Chinese
Ricci had a few European prints in his possession that, on various occa-
Art”; Spence, Memory Palace of Matteo sions, he shared with some Chinese literati who were very impressed with
Ricci; Vanderstappen, “Chinese Art and the European artistic techniques, such as pictorial realism, linear perspective,
Jesuits”; Carmen Guarino, “Images of Jesus portraiture, the contrast between light and dark, and optical illusion.
in Chengshi Mouyan,” in The Chinese Face
of Jesus Christ. Vol. 2, ed. Roman Malek Scholars have suggested that Ricci offered four prints19 to be reproduced
(Sankt Augustin Institut Monumenta Serica, in an ink stone design album compiled by Cheng Dayue in 1605, entitled
2003), 417–36.

WORD & IMAGE 97

Chengshi moyuan. In addition to the prints, Ricci also wrote his own commen-
taries to three of the four prints, which represent biblical narratives, while
the fourth, representing the Virgen de la Antiqua, is not accompanied by any
explanatory text.
Although there is no explicit written source to prove that these prints were
actually offered by Ricci, scholars have been basing this argument on the
fact that Ricci and Cheng were friends and also on Ricci’s commentaries. If
Cheng Dayue had randomly collected these prints, no one would be able to
perceive a doctrinal linkage between the biblical narratives they represent.
On the contrary, if Ricci were involved by any means in the inclusion of
these prints in Cheng’s album, he would not have missed the chance to select
a group of prints related to each other to elaborate an explanation on
Christian teachings relevant to Chinese culture and beliefs.
In the following section, this paper examines the intersection between the
prints and Ricci’s commentaries and also the doctrinal linkage between the
prints and the biblical narratives they represent.

[Icon]textuality in the Christian prints in the Chengshi moyuan 程氏墨苑

The earliest known prints with Christian themes found in China were
sketched by Ding Yunpeng, and printed by Huang Lin after European
models. They were made to integrate a compilation of issues related to
Heaven, Earth, and the Three Teachings, arranged by Cheng Dayue and
published in 1606 with the title Chengshi moyuan. Some scholars have sug-
gested that Ricci offered Cheng Dayue three engravings representing bib-
lical narratives, and a fourth engraving representing the Virgen de la Antiqua,
probably produced in 1597 at the Japanese school of artists led by Giovanni
Niccolò, following a print after a painting that is in the Cathedral of
Seville.20 20 – Laufer, “Christian Art in China”;
However, Lin Li-chiang suggests that Cheng Dayue had acquired three Pelliot, “Peinture et la gravure”; Sullivan,
Meeting of Eastern and Western Art; Hsiang,
prints alluding to biblical themes and Ricci only offered the engraving of the “European Influences on Chinese Art”;
Virgen de la Antiqua sent from the Jesuit mission in Japan.21 The argument is Spence, Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci;
based on the fact that earlier prints of the Chengshi moyuan do not contain the Vanderstappen, “Chinese Art and the
Jesuits”; Carmen Guarino, “Images of Jesus
print of the Virgen de la Antiqua and the other three prints of biblical stories do in Chengshi Mouyan,” in The Chinese Face of
not have the captions and descriptions by Ricci. As pointed out by Lin Li- Jesus Christ. Vol. 2 of 2, ed. Roman Malek
chiang, early copies of the Chengshi moyuan, printed in 1605, already included (Sankt Augustin Institut Monumenta Serica,
2003), 417–36.
the three biblical prints, although they do not have the Chinese Romanized
21 – Li-Chiang, “Proliferation of Images,”
captions, which were added in 1606 by Ricci when he wrote the description 202–04.
for each of the three prints and probably offered the print of the Madonna to
be included in the book catalogue. In addition, one can also observe that the
print of the Virgin is an iconic representation and a non-biblical theme,
while the other three prints illustrate biblical events and may have a
doctrinal connection with each other, as will be explained further below.
The prints representing Christ Appearing to Simon Peter and the Miraculous
Draught of Fishes and The Journey to Emmaus are adaptations of prints by Anton
Wierix II, after a design by Maarten de Vos, while the print depicting The
Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah was designed and printed by Crispijn van de
Passe the Elder (figures 7–9). The two New Testament prints designed by de
Vos were widely published in Europe as part of a print series of Dominicae
Passionis Mysteria—typicis advmbrationibus effigiata (The mysteries of the Lord’s
Passion—sketched accurately from imagination). Illustrated editions of the Lord’s

98 RUI OLIVEIRA LOPES

Figure 7. Christ Appearing to Simon Peter and the
Miraculous Draught of Fishes, designed by
Maarten de Vos, printed by Anton Wierix II,
and executed by Eduard van Hoeswinckel,
1580–1600. Engraving. 19.0 × 15.2 centi-
meters. British Museum, London, accession
no. F,1.212.

Passion became popular during the second half of the sixteenth century in
connection with the newly established conventions of Catholic Counter-
Reformation art. These editions were meant to facilitate the meditation on
the Passion, death, resurrection, and glorification of Christ, standing as the
pillar of Christian faith: the redemptive death of Christ Jesus. Although de
Vos was initially converted to the Lutheran faith he reconverted to
Catholicism c.1580, becoming one of the pioneering painters in the establish-
ment of a more stringent and doctrinal style of Christian art.
Around 1584, Eduard van Hoeswinckel published an edition of the
Dominicae Passionis Mysteria containing twenty-two plates designed by de
Vos and engraved by Anton Wierix II of which plates numbers 19 and 20
are The Journey to Emmaus and Christ Appearing to Simon Peter and the Miraculous
Draught of Fishes, respectively. All prints in this edition are framed by a wide
border decorated with insects, birds, rabbits, flowers, fruits, lizards, studio
objects, putti, and which sometimes includes oval medallions with other
biblical narratives related to the biblical scene of that specific plate.

WORD & IMAGE 99

 Figure 8. The Journey to Emmaus, designed by
Maarten de Vos, printed by Anton Wierix II,
and executed by Eduard van Hoeswinckel,
1580–1600. Engraving. 18.5 × 14.7 centi-
meters. British Museum. London, accession
no. F,1.211.

Similar frames are very common in other publications by van Hoeswinckel.

In a comparative analysis with another illustrated edition of the Lord’s
Passion, by Gerard de Jode, we observe that the publisher uses a different
series of prints by de Vos also engraved by Anton Wierix II, which do not
include plates of The Journey to Emmaus and Christ Appearing to Simon Peter and
the Miraculous Draught of Fishes. In conclusion, the sequence of the two prints as
well as the accuracy of the Chinese rendition of these prints demonstrate
that they belonged to the van Hoeswinckel edition of Dominicae Passionis
Mysteria—typicis advmbrationibus effigiata, dated from 1584.
As mentioned above, the Chinese printmaker followed exactly the
European prototypes and even included the Latin inscriptions that facilitate
the identification of the European artists. However, for some reason, the
frames with naturalistic and animal designs in the European prints were not
included in the ones for the Chengshi moyuan, which may suggest that the
copies used by the Jesuits in the East may have been simpler versions focused

100 RUI OLIVEIRA LOPES

Figure 9. The Sodomites Blinded Before Lot’s
House, designed and executed by Crispijn de
Passe the Elder. Engraving. 12.6 × 9.6 cen-
timeters. Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen,
Rotterdam, accession no. BDH 6942 (HP).

on the visual narrative of the biblical scenes, avoiding distracting ornaments

in the frames of the folios. Or it was Cheng Dayue who decided not to
include the decorative frames to be more consistent with all other prints in
the Chengshi moyuan.
When we examine the artistic style of the Chinese prints we can still see
the distinctive and eclectic style of de Vos, which is characterized by the
combination of Flemish and Italian artistic trends. The Flemish artist lived a
few years in Italy, probably in Rome, Florence, and Venice, where he
worked with Tintoretto. Interestingly, the de Vos print of Christ Appearing to
Simon Peter and the Miraculous Draught of Fishes shows stylistic similarities with
Tintoretto’s painting Christ on the Sea of Galilee, c.1575–80. The Chinese
printmaker tried to keep de Vos’s style in the musculature and roundness
of the bodies as well as in the dramatic poses and gestures, although he
struggles with the anatomic design that gives form and depth to the compo-
sition. Instead, the Chinese artist used a calligraphic brushstroke and made a
simplistic cloud design, recalling the Buddhist painting style. As noted by
Ricci, there is a lack of chiaroscuro technique in the Chinese prints. These
reproductions are instead plain and simple in their structure, with no traces

WORD & IMAGE 101

of shadow, which creates a sense of depth and volume in pictorial composi-
tion and also imparts a more dramatic and realistic atmosphere to the scene.
At this point, one may ask why were these illustrations of a Christian
subject included in a Chinese catalogue or album of ink stone designs? One
of the interesting features of the Chengshi moyuan is its encyclopedic arrange-
ment of the subject matter, resulting in a simplification of the traditional
taxonomic method of Ming dynasty’s classified books (leishu 類書).22 The 22 – Benjamin Elman, “Collecting and
classification of the Chengshi moyuan is arranged in three main parts. The first Classifying: Ming Dynasty Compendia and
Encyclopedias (Leishu),” Extrême-Orient,
(chapters 1–8) refers to Heaven (astronomy, astrology and the twenty-eight Extrême-Occident 1, no. 1 (2007): 131–57.
constellations), to Earth (sacred mountains, writing/painting materials used
to render the mountains, and to describe them in poetry and calligraphy),
and to people and their literate activities, many of them related to writing
and ink, such as the literati gatherings. The second part (chapters 9–10) is
focused on Confucian teachings, including designs adapted from the ancient
Chinese classics. Finally, the third part (chapters 11–12) is about Taoism and
Buddhism, mainly featuring the deities and popular anecdotes as well as
popular iconography.23 Interestingly, in the earliest prints of the Chengshi 23 – Dayue Cheng 程大約 (1605); Chengshi
moyuan, such as the one in Peking University Library, the Christian illustra- moyuan 程氏墨苑.
tions were randomly added in the last folios of the manuscript because they
were not explained or contextualized as the illustrations on Taoism and
Buddhism were. Moreover, the images were not arranged accordingly with
the biblical narrative, as the episode from Genesis 19:23–29, The Destruction of
Sodom and Gomorrah, was placed last, probably because of its round shape, as
if it were a colophon or a seal. The Gospels scenes were placed side by side
in an coherent narrative sequence as if they were placed in a Western book,
but in the wrong order in a Chinese book. This arrangement demonstrates
that Cheng Dayue knew enough about the religious contents of the
Christian illustrations to place them in the same chapter with Taoism and
Buddhism, but he had little knowledge regarding their spiritual exegesis as
he placed them in the wrong narrative sequence and in the last folios of the
manuscript without any further explanation.
At this point, there is one more question to be addressed. When Ricci
wrote the captions and descriptions for each of the biblical illustrations, he
apparently changed the meaning of the biblical narratives by giving the title
related to a different biblical story. Why? According to Jonathan Spence,
Ricci interpreted these illustrations as different biblical narratives to make
them suitable for his spiritual discourse. Ricci’s commentaries on the illus-
trations were adjusted, “in order that the wrong picture may do the right
work.”24 24 – Spence, Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci,
While in The Journey to Emmaus Ricci used a common vocabulary for the 59–64, at 64.
Chinese literati culture, mentioning the “wise men,” the contemplation of
the “Way,” or the control of natural elements (water, fire, wind, and earth),
in the illustration of Christ Appearing to Simon Peter and the Miraculous Draught of
Fishes, Ricci turns to the question of belief by the strength of their heart
instead of trust in their sight, to the acceptance of suffering that will be
rewarded by eternal existence. Lastly, with the illustration of The Destruction of
Sodom and Gomorrah Ricci adapted the popular theme of the ambiguity of lust
associated with Lot’s life—sodomy and incest (interestingly, Ricci omitted
the incest of Lot with his two daughters)—to explain how happiness and
purity depend on the acts of men, which is a fundamental Buddhist doctrine.

102 RUI OLIVEIRA LOPES

 However, in our view a closer examination of the interaction between
word and image demonstrates that Ricci did more than simply adjust the
available pictures to suit his own views of what would best appeal to Chinese
ideas of morality and spirituality. He turned an apparently random selection
of prints into an explanation of how those who keep their faith in the Lord of
Heaven will be able to “know what is the hope of His calling, and what the
riches of the glory of His inherence in the saints” (Ephesians 1:18). Ricci’s
explanations were deliberately elaborated to match the Buddhist view of
suffering; the Mahayana Buddhism idea of the illusion and misperception of
reality, and the Three Pure Precepts. According to these principles, only
those who are able to avoid all evil, cultivate good, and cleanse their minds
of the earthly life will follow the path to overcoming continuous suffering
and the ever-changing nature of the world around us, which makes true
Buddhist believers have faith in complete liberation.
In our view, the illustrations of Christ Appearing to Simon Peter and the
Miraculous Draught of Fishes and The Journey to Emmaus are related to each
other, not only because both describe the appearance of Christ to his
disciples after the Resurrection, but also because they both deal with the
idea of recognizing, knowing, and having faith in the heavenly nature of
Christ beyond his likeness and domanstrations of power.
According to the Bible account in John 21:1–14, Christ Appearing to Simon
Peter and the Miraculous Draught of Fishes was the third manifestation of Jesus
after the Resurrection. Simon Peter and other apostles were fishing in the
Sea of Galilee or Tiberias. However, that night they caught nothing. The
next morning Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not recognize
him. Then Jesus said:

Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore,
and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. Therefore
that disciple whom Jesus loved said unto Peter, “It is the Lord.” Now when
Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher’s coat unto him, for
he was naked, and did cast himself into the sea. But the other disciples came in
the little boat (for they were not far from land, but about two hundred cubits),
dragging the net with fish. Then, as soon as they had come to land, they saw a
fire of coals there, and fish laid on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring
some of the fish which you have just caught.” Simon Peter went up and
dragged the net to land, full of large fish, one hundred and fifty-three; and
although there were so many, the net was not broken. Jesus said to them,
“Come and eat breakfast.” Yet none of the disciples dared ask Him, “Who are
You?”—knowing that it was the Lord. (John 21:6–12)

The apostles recognized Jesus not when they saw him but when he
performed the miracle, because they “walk by faith, not by sight” (2
Corinthians 5:7). Interestingly, in his epistle addressed to various churches
in Asia Minor, the apostle Peter extolled the strong faith of those who were
suffering religious persecution in those regions, saying, “Whom having not
seen, yet love; in whom, though now yet see him not, yet believing, yet
rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your
faith, even the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:8–9).
On another occasion, when Jesus was walking on the sea and instructed
Peter to walk in his way, Peter had doubts in his faith, not only because he

WORD & IMAGE 103

did not believe that he was seeing Jesus walking on water, but also because
he was miraculously walking on the sea. He doubted his faith in Jesus
because he trusted more in what he was seeing instead of trusting in his
heart (Matthew 14:22–33). Then, Jesus held Peter’s hand and told him: “O
thou of little faith, where didst thou doubt?” (Matthew 14:31).
Ricci probably related the two stories because he recalled the struc-
tural similarities between the illustrations of these episodes in the
Evangelicae Historiae Imagines (figures 5 and 6). Furthermore, the episodes
are linked by the idea having faith in heavenly things, which are beyond
the reality of the things that are seen. To explain the blessings for the
ones who have a “strong faith in the Way” and for “the wise man that
follows heaven’s decrees,” Ricci preferred to use an example that
showed the consequences of paying more attention to earthly things. It
is not clear if Ricci was only referring to Dao (Way) when he wrote, “A
man who has a strong faith in the Way can walk on the yielding water as if
on solid rock. [. . .] When the wise man that follows heaven’s decrees,
fire does not burn him, a sword does not cut him, water does not drown
him.” However, putting together the values of faith and obedience, this
recalls the biblical principle of obedience by faith that is described in
John, when Jesus incited the disciples to “exercise faith in God” (John
14:1) in order to “observe my commandments” (John 14:15). Interestingly,
Jesus, in reply to one of the disciples, said: “I am the way, the truth and
the life: no man comes to the Father, but by me” (John 14:6). For that
reason, Jesus’s disciples in the first century were known as belonging to
the Way, which means a manner of life centered on the faith in Jesus
Christ, and imitating his example (Acts 9:2).
Ricci wrote in his commentary to this print that:
this first follower doubted so that we might believe; one man’s moment of
doubt can serve to end the doubts of all those millions who come after him. If
he had not been made to doubt, our faith would have been without founda-
tion. Therefore we give thanks for his faith as we give thanks for his doubts.25 25 – Ibid., 60.

Ricci’s observations demonstrate that he needed to give the example of

Peter’s unbelief to encourage others to have “strong faith in the Way,”
namely Christ. Ricci not only used a vocabulary consistent with Chinese
beliefs, but also he intended to teach fundamental principles of Christianity
by analogy with local beliefs.
The Journey to Emmaus tells the story about two disciples who were walking
from Jerusalem to Emmaus while discussing the tomb of Jesus, found empty
earlier that day. In the meantime, “Jesus himself approached and began
talking with them but their eyes were kept from recognising him” (Luke
24:15–16) because they were not clearing their minds of earthly events and
were therefore unable to see and recognize the heavenly nature of Jesus,
which is eternal (2 Corinthians 4:18). They had lost their hope and faith in
“the one who was going to deliver Israel” (Luke 24:21) because the man had
been sentenced to death and nailed onto a wooden stake or cross. After that
they heard that Jesus had appeared to a woman and some people went to
the tomb but no one saw him so they did not believe that he was still alive,
or eventually resurrected. Then Jesus rebuked them for their unbelief,
saying, “O fools, and slow of heart to believe all the things the Prophets

104 RUI OLIVEIRA LOPES

have spoken! Was it not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter
into his glory?” (Luke 24:26). Jesus expounded unto them in all the scriptures
the things concerning the Messiah and it was only when Jesus broke the
bread and gave it to them that, “their eyes were opened, and knew him; and
vanished out of their sight. And then they said to each other: Did not our
heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he
opened to us the scriptures?” (Luke 24:13–32).
It is interesting to note that when these two disciples returned to Jerusalem
immediately after the apparition of Christ in Emmaus, they found the eleven
apostles gathered, who said: “The Lord is risen indeed, and had appeared to
Simon” (Luke 24:34). Thus Jesus probably showed himself to his two dis-
ciples on the way to Emmaus after appearing to Simon Peter.
The teachings transmitted in the appearance of Jesus to the disciples after
his Resurrection are strictly related to the faith that the disciples had in his
heavenly nature during his earthly life and especially during his ministry,
which started after his baptism in the Jordan River. For instance, after the
appearance of Jesus to the apostle Thomas, he said, “because you have seen
Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have
believed” (John 20:29).
In short, all these four New Testament episodes, those illustrated in the
Chengshi moyuan (Christ Appearing to Simon Peter and the Miraculous Draught of Fishes
and The Journey to Emmaus), and those Ricci actually mentioned in his com-
mentaries, of which we may find illustrations in Nadal’s reference books (Peter
Walking on Water and Supper at Emmaus), deal with two Biblical principles:
“walking by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7) by “keep[ing] our eyes
not on the things seen, but on the things unseen,” and “For the things seen are
temporary, but the things unseen are everlasting”(2 Corinthians 4:18).
The relationship between earthly things, which are visible and temporary,
and heavenly things, which are invisible and everlasting, takes us to Ricci’s
commentary for the illustration of The Journey to Emmaus, which he translated as
Upon Hearing the Truth the Two Disciples Then Gave up all Vanity. In the first part of his
commentary, Ricci translated the Gospel of Luke but, in the second part, he
expressed his ideas about the relationship between happiness and suffering. He
gave the example, taken from the teachings of Jesus to the disciples at Emmaus,
about the choice that Jesus made to sacrifice himself through suffering for the
salvation and eternal happiness of humankind: “Ought not the Christ to have
suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” (Luke 24:26). Later, Jesus
showed himself to his disciples, “and He opened their understanding, that they
might comprehend the Scriptures. Then He said to them:
Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise
from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should
be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are
witnesses of these things. (Luke 24:45–48)

In fact, Ricci chose to use the word “vanity” in the classic sense related to
futility, the idea that the world in which humans live and this life are
transient. When the disciples were exposed to the truth they gave up all
vanity and became conscious of the futility of all earthly things compared
with the hope and joy of eternal life in the land of heaven. According to the
teachings of the Catholic Church, the meaninglessness of earthly life and all

WORD & IMAGE 105

existing things facing the certainty of death became a moral concept in the
European Middle Ages and developed during the Renaissance to emphasize
the idea of the salvation of the soul in the afterlife. Ricci knew that this moral
idea was comparable with the Buddhist doctrine of impermanence, accord-
ing to which all conditioned existence, without exception, is transient, or in a
constant state of flux, causing physical and mental suffering, anxiety and
dissatisfaction. The famous Chinese painter-critic Dong Qichang noticed the
knowledge Ricci had about the Buddhist doctrine of impermanence when he
became aware of Christian teachings and the missionary activities of the
Jesuits c.1597. One of his students
Tseng, the graduate, showed me his exhibition of the western, “Lord of Heaven”
religion. At the beginning he says that Li Ma-tou [Matteo Ricci], when he had
passed the age of 50, remarked, “Now those fifty years have no existence.” This
is like the Buddhist saying “Each day that passes marks the obliteration of so
much destiny.” It is nothing but the doctrine of impermanence.26 26 – Waley, “Ricci and Tung Ch‘i-Ch‘ang,”
(1922): 343.
This “exhibition of the western, ‘Lord of the Heaven’ religion” was
probably of the same Christian prints shown by Ricci to Li Rihua, one of
Dong’s best friends, which he considered “worth adopting.”27 It is also worth 27 – Li-Chiang, “Proliferation of Images,”
mentioning that, among the color paintings depicting Christian and Western 28.

themes, which some scholars have attributed to Dong Qichang,28 there is 28 – Laufer, “Christian Art in China”;
one representing The Journey to Emmaus. This demonstrates that Ricci had Richard Barnhart, “Dong Qichang and
Western Learning: A Hypothesis in Honour
considerable knowledge of Buddhist teachings and probably established a of James Cahill,” Archives of Asian Art 50
connection with the story of the disciples in Emmaus when he wrote his (1998): 7–16.
comments on the illustration of The Journey to Emmaus included in the Chengshi
moyuan to teach Christian morality based on the meaningless and transitory
nature of earthly life.
The last illustration commented upon by Ricci was the Destruction of Sodom
and Gomorrah, which was translated as Depraved Sensuality and Vileness Bring
Themselves the Heavenly Fire. Although the illustration represents Lot being
pulled into the house by one of the two angels, and the sodomites at the
doorway of the house struck with blindness, trying to find the door (Genesis
19:10–11), Ricci preferred to emphasize the consequences of practicing
immoral acts for the ones who do not follow the decrees of heaven.
Instead of translating the Old Testament description of Lot’s story, Ricci
chose to mention the consequence of one’s conduct in the judgment of
rightness and wickedness. The ones who remain righteous among perversity
and vileness will be blessed by the heavens. Again, Ricci adopted an appro-
priate vocabulary to shape the Christian moral example of the righteous
man among the wicked to the Confucian moral disposition to practice good
actions and the Buddhist beliefs on how happiness and purity depend on the
acts of men. As mentioned above, the Three Pure Precepts represent the ideals
of Mahayana Buddhism that Bodhisattvas strive to realize, i.e. keeping them
from doing evil, cultivating goodness, and living to benefit all beings.
However, in the Chinese tradition of the Buddhist canon, the ceremony to
order monks and nuns considered not only the Three Pure Precepts but also the
Five Moral Precepts. Usually, the third of the Five Moral Precepts relates to
sexual misconduct, which is related to the “depraved sensuality” and the
“unnatural and perverse lusts” that Ricci mentioned in his commentary to
the illustration of Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. According to the

106 RUI OLIVEIRA LOPES


29 – The Shinsan Dainihon Zokuzokyo “卍新纂
大日本續藏經” (卍新纂續藏) (Tokyo:
Kokusho Kankokai, n.d.).
ceremonial version of the Five Moral Precepts found in the Guijie Yaoji 歸戒要
集 (Book of the Precepts to Take Refuge in the Buddha), the third precept says, “As
the great Buddha refrained from sexual misconduct, so I too will refrain
from sexual misconduct every day and every night” (如諸佛盡壽。不婬
欲。我某甲一日一夜不婬欲。).29
Conclusions
A close examination of these three illustrations, paired with the commen-
taries by Ricci, demonstrates that the Italian Jesuit easily constructed a solid
reasoning of the Scriptures by pointing out three main subjects: the obedi-
ence and faith that all men should have in the Lord of Heaven; the sacrifice
of the Lord of Heaven to benefit men’s happiness and eternal bliss in
Paradise; and, in order to benefit from happiness and eternal bliss, the
necessity for all men to do good, avoid evil actions, and be an example of
moral conduct to others. In fact, although Ricci’s commentaries are not
accurate descriptions of the biblical narratives illustrated in Cheng’s book,
they match in terms of exegetical content and spiritual understanding. In
addition, there is no solid ground yet to say whether Cheng Dayue acquired
the illustrations himself or if they were actually given to him by Ricci.
However, based on the iconological analysis of the interaction between
image and text (icontextuality), the conclusions of this paper lean heavily
towards upholding the opinions of those who argue that Ricci may have
offered these prints as visual explanation and accommodation of Christian
teachings to Chinese local beliefs.
Acknowledgments
This work is the result of research conducted between 2013 and 2015 while the author was a
postdoctoral research fellow at the Artistic Studies Research Centre, Faculty of Fine Arts,
University of Lisbon, and a Visiting Scholar at the International Center for Studies of
Chinese Civilization, Fudan University. The author thanks the valuable support of Dong
Shaoxin, Deng Fei, and Gu Weimin, and Qu Yi for the insights shared during the research
conducted in Shanghai. The author is also immensely grateful to Cheng-hua Wang, Yu-chih
Lai, Shih Ching-fei, Li-chiang Lin, Shih-hwa Chiu, Richard Vinograd, Kristina Kleugthen,
Anna Grasskamp, and all the participants at the “Interactions in Art: East Asia and Europe,
1600–1800” conference held at the Academia Sinica, Taipei, who provided insight and
expertise during the discussion of part of the article, although they may not agree with all
the conclusions.
Funding
This work was supported by the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia [grant number FCT/
SFRH/BPD/79355/2011].
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