petit fragment de teixit rectangular de fons vermell amb els motius decoratius disposats en simetria de mirall sobre un eix central. Destaca un àliga -coronada i bicèfa- que subjecta amb les seves urpes un cor travessat per dues fletxes. El motiu s’envolta d’elements florals acompanyats d’ocells. El conjunt queda emmarcat per dues  sanefes verticals amb motius florals. 

L’àliga bicèfala que sosté amb les seves urpes un cor travessat per dues fletxes és el símbol de l’orde agustiniana. El dret a utilitzar l’àliga de dos caps –símbol dels Haubsburg- va ser atorgat per la dinastia dels Austries a l’església del Sagrat Nen Jesús a Cebú, Manila, l’any 1565. Molts teixits que porten aquest emblema van ser comissionats per l’orde agustiniana i van ser realitzats a Canton, Macao o Fukien (Xina) des d'on eren enviats per mar a Acapulco pel seu ús en les esglèsies d’Amèrica Llatina i cap a Sevilla per a la seva exportació cap a Europa. (veure bibliografia)

Fragment de teixit rectangular, amb passamaneria al seu perímetre, de fons vermell amb els motius decoratius disposats en simetria de mirall sobre un eix central. Destaca un àliga -coronada i bicèfa- que subjecta amb les seves urpes un cor travessat per dues fletxes. El motiu s’envolta d’elements florals acompanyats d’ocells. El conjunt queda emmarcat per dues  sanefes verticals amb motius florals. 

L’àliga bicèfala que sosté amb les seves urpes un cor travessat per dues fletxes és el símbol de l’orde agustiniana. El dret a utilitzar l’àliga de dos caps –símbol dels Haubsburg- va ser atorgat per la dinastia dels Austries a l’església del Sagrat Nen Jesús a Cebú, Manila, l’any 1565. Molts teixits que porten aquest emblema van ser comissionats per l’orde agustiniana i van ser realitzats a Canton, Macao o Fukien (Xina) des d'on eren enviats per mar a Acapulco pel seu ús en les esglèsies d’Amèrica Llatina i cap a Sevilla per a la seva exportació cap a Europa. (veure bibliografia)

A symbol of exoticism and power, the Asian elephant (identified by its small ears) shares the visual space of this finely patterned silk satin damask with a European double-headed crowned eagle beneath a stylized, oval-shaped lotus.¹ The elephant is shown with multiple tusks, three on one side and one peeking out on the other. As such, the animal seen here likely represents the Buddhist six-tusked elephant described in a fifth-century Chinese translation of a sutra as being resplendent and white and having lotuses, jade maidens, and other symbolic figures at the end of each tusk.²Elephants have a long history in China. Given as tribute to the emperor by local rulers, particularly from neighboring Southeast Asian regions where they were raised, elephants were also presented as diplomatic gifts to important foreign kings. Apart from their use as work animals and army transport, they were sometimes tamed to provide entertainment in times of leisure, beloved by the royal courts. In sixteenth-century Europe, elephants held a similar fascination for royals and commoners alike, and they appear in the works of such artists as Durer and Raphael. Shipped by boat from Ceylon to Lisbon, elephants were offered as gifts of the Portuguese kings to the courts of Spain, Austria, France, and England. In 1514, Manuel I of Portugal gave a white elephant (the famous "Hanno" known through Raphael's drawings) to Pope Leo X.  An  elephant given by the court of Lisbon to Philip II of Spain in 1581 was subsequently passed along to Henry IV of France.  A year later Henry, in turn, gve it to Queen Elizabeth of England, a brillia;nt "re-gifting" of an asset deemed too expensive to maintain.³ Here the combination of Buddhist symbols and Habsburg eagles produces a composite message of a religious and political nature that juxtaposes the two cultures of Asia and Europe.  We do not know how long this long-preserved length of fabric was originally used, but its delicate quality indicates that it may have been part of a garment or hanging.⁴Woven in China and likely exported through the port of Macau, this textile's blend of Asian and European taste and style was intended for a foreign market that may not have understood the Buddhist elements but nonetheless would have appreciated the fine weaving and exotic designs.[Melinda Watt, adapted from Interwoven Globe, The Worldwide Textile Trade, 1500-1800/ edited by Amelia Peck; New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art; New Haven: distributed by Yale University Press, 2013]1. The textile is composed of a five-harness satin damask, with a blue warp and yellow weft. The blue color is presumably indigo, while the yellow dye was made from the Asian pagoda tree (Sophora japonica). Dye analysis was conducted by Nobuko Shibayama in the Department of Scientific Research, Metropolitan Museum, with High Performance Liquid Chromatography-Photo Diode Array (HPLC-PDA). 2. “The creature is colossal . . . and is whiter than the snows of the Himalayas. At the ends of his six tusks are six bathing tanks, in each of which grow fourteen lotuses. On each open blossom is a ‘jade maiden’ fairer than the damsels of Paradise, in whose hands are five spontaneously created lutes; each lute is accompanied by 500 other musical instruments, and 500 jewel-colored birds.” Guan Puxian pu sa xing fa jing (Sutra on the Practice of Visualizing the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra), in Soper, “Literary Evidence for Early Buddhist Art in China,” p. 223. 3. See Bedini, The Pope’s Elephant, Gschwend and Bellet, The Story of Suleyman, and Lach, “The Elephant,” pp. 152 ? 58. 4. The panel comprises two widths of cloth seamed together: identical patterns that are somewhat mismatched at the join. A fragment of the white selvage with a blue stripe is preserved along the seam in two areas (visible at the back). Digby, “Some Silks Woven under Portuguese Influence in the Far East,” pp. 55 ? 56 and n. 11, notes that several Asian damasks from Macau have a white twill selvage with a stripe and that the structure of this selvage is distinct from other silks thought to be from Macau; the elephant silk conforms to the technical features of that group. Since we have little information as to the exact provenance of these textiles, technical features such as these can be important for identifying the potential locale of their production.

Crowned and splayed double-headed eagles, symbols of the Habsburg dynasty, are woven into this Chinese textile, one of a large group of related examples made for the Portuguese and Spanish market in the last part of the sixteenth century. The group represents an early production for export of complex woven silks that integrate both Iberian and Asian aesthetics and design. In this example, the eagle holds in its talons arrows that pierce a heart-shaped vase. The device of a heart pierced by arrows is associated with the Augustinian religious order, while representations of floral vases were popular motifs in China. The conflation of pious and secular imagery seen here may be the result of free rein being given to the master weaver commissioned to produce the cloth. Although the pattern, colors, and general layout have a notable European character, a number of details point to an Asian hand in the design. The form of the oddly shaped leaf on the scrolling vines, for example, resembles Chinese floral patterns more than the European acanthus leaves we might expect to find, especially as associated with the grapelike fruit cluster motif that repeats throughout. Additionally, the stylized dark blue flowers are Chinese peonies; they alternate with the eagles, whose extended, erect neck feathers and patterned breasts recall the graphic means sometimes used by Chinese artisans to render the image of a phoenix. It could be that the weaver modified an original source (perhaps a European print) to incorporate these Asian elements within the overall European format. A related group of silks, possibly from a different workshop, shares some of the design features seen here, including the arrow-holding double-headed eagles amid scrolling vines, although in that group the eagles are contained within narrow vertical panels delineated by leafy borders. Multiple examples of textiles with this design exist; in general, they have the same crimson red (lac dye) ground and are decorated in two colors, blue and yellow. In addition to silk, these fine woven textiles incorporate flat threads of gold leaf on paper, typical of East Asian works.¹ A complete cope (Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto) and a portion of a chasuble (Victoria and Albert Museum, London) made of this fabric confirm that it was used in Christian ecclesiastical vestments.²  The exact location of production for this group of silks is unknown, but the combination of Iberian and Asian motifs and styles is typical of products exported through Macau, a major center of trade in the sixteenth century.Although other Macau silks possess similar design elements, the color scheme of this example, with its pattern of green, blue, and yellow, is distinctive.  It has been proposed, based on the motif of the arrow piercing the heart, that the fabric was made specifically for Augustinians active in the Philippines, but examples found in Spain, Portugal, and other European centers suggest it may have been part of the larger Iberian trade.[Melinda Watt, adapted from Interwoven Globe, The Worldwide Textile Trade, 1500-1800/ edited by Amelia Peck; New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art; New Haven: distributed by Yale University Press, 2013]1. There are two examples in the Metropolitan's collection: acc. nos. 34.41.9 (red, blue, and yellow) and 34.41.1 (blue and yellow). The dyes used in this textile were analyzed by Nobuko Shibayama in the Department of Scientific Research, Metropolitan Museum, using High Performance Liquid Chromatography-Photo Diode Array (HPLC-PDA). The red color is lac dye, and the yellow is from the Asian pagoda tree (Sophora japonica). See also Digby, “Some Silks Woven under Portuguese Influence in the Far East,” pp. 52 - 63. 2. For the Toronto silk (no. 973.422), see Vollmer, Keall, and Nagai-Berthrong, Silk Roads, China Ships, p. 19, and Mayer et al., Raiment for the Lord’s Service, pp. 154 - 55. The London example (no. T215-1910) can be seen on the museum’s website, http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O486944/fragment-unknown/. (Additional examples in the Victoria and Albert Museum include nos. T.217-1910 and T.169-1929).

Petit fragment de teixit amb el fons vermell i els motius decoratius disposats en simetria de mirall sobre un eix central. Destaca un àliga -coronada i bicèfa- que subjecta amb les seves urpes un cor travessat per dues fletxes. El motiu s’envolta d’elements florals acompanyats d’ocells. El conjunt queda emmarcat per dues  sanefes verticals amb motius florals. 

L’àliga bicèfala que sosté amb les seves urpes un cor travessat per dues fletxes és el símbol de l’orde agustiniana. El dret a utilitzar l’àliga de dos caps –símbol dels Haubsburg- va ser atorgat per la dinastia dels Austries a l’església del Sagrat Nen Jesús a Cebú, Manila, l’any 1565. Molts teixits que porten aquest emblema van ser comissionats per l’orde agustiniana i van ser realitzats a Canton, Macao o Fukien (Xina) des d'on eren enviats per mar a Acapulco pel seu ús en les esglèsies d’Amèrica Llatina i cap a Sevilla per a la seva exportació cap a Europa. (veure bibliografia)

Petit fragment de teixit rectangular de fons vermell amb els motius decoratius disposats en simetria de mirall sobre un eix central. Destaca un àliga -coronada i bicèfa- que subjecta amb les seves urpes un cor travessat per dues fletxes. El motiu s’envolta d’elements florals acompanyats d’ocells. El conjunt queda emmarcat per dues  sanefes verticals amb motius florals. 

L’àliga bicèfala que sosté amb les seves urpes un cor travessat per dues fletxes és el símbol de l’orde agustiniana. El dret a utilitzar l’àliga de dos caps –símbol dels Haubsburg- va ser atorgat per la dinastia dels Austries a l’església del Sagrat Nen Jesús a Cebú, Manila, l’any 1565. Molts teixits que porten aquest emblema van ser comissionats per l’orde agustiniana i van ser realitzats a Canton, Macao o Fukien (Xina) des d'on eren enviats per mar a Acapulco pel seu ús en les esglèsies d’Amèrica Llatina i cap a Sevilla per a la seva exportació cap a Europa. (veure bibliografia)

Embroidered in China, this depiction of the abduction of Helen is monumental both in scale and in the freedom granted to the embroiderers, who included many Chinese motifs and interpretations within a purely Western narrative. A quintessential account in the Western classical tradition, the story of the Trojan War inspired large sets of European tapestries; the earliest documented set was presented to Charles the Bold in 1472.¹ This embroidered hanging, too, was part of a large set, of which the Metropolitan Museum owns three, and four are preserved in other collections.² All have the same border, including an armorial at each corner that does not correspond completely with any known arms. Perhaps it is an erroneous rendering of the arms of the Mascarenhas family of Portugal; the nobleman Francisco Mascarenhas served as governor of Macau from 1623 to 1626. The abduction of Helen ignited war between Troy and Greece; this version, in which Helen is forcibly seized, relies on postclassical sources.³ Against a backdrop of European-style buildings with Baroque facades and struggling armored figures, a protesting Helen is carried off by two men, away from her white-bearded husband, Menelaus, and toward a boat on the right where the Trojan prince Paris awaits. No single print source has yet been found, but the subject matter and composition of the hanging were surely based on European sources.⁴The Chinese embroiderers were responsible for many details from the Chinese decorative vocabulary, such as the waves in the background, the phoenixes in the center of the upper border, various details of the armor, the scales of the serpents and tritons in the border, and the lychee fruit seen outlined against the side of the boat. While most of the hanging is embroidered, the figures’ faces and exposed limbs were painted directly on the cotton foundation cloth, probably also in China. Especially in the faces, the modeling of light and shadow for a three-dimensional effect, while naively done, shows an aspect of European-style painting that had reached East Asia with Jesuit missionaries in the sixteenth century. The Italian Jesuit Giovanni Niccolo (or Nicolao, 1563–1626) established an academy of painting in Japan in 1583 to train local artists to produce religious art. When the missionaries’ relations with Japanese authorities deteriorated, Niccolo fled Japan, returning to Macau in 1614. Some of his students became active in China, including You Wenhui (baptized Manoel Pereira, 1575–1633), a young Chinese from Macau, and Ni Yicheng (also known as Jacopo Niva, 1579–1635), of Japanese and Chinese parentage. You Wenhui produced the only surviving painted portrait of the Jesuit leader Matteo Ricci (1552–1610).⁵ The more highly regarded Ni Yicheng had studied at Niccolo’s academy in Japan, and in China he "was in constant demand to paint works . . . both for the mission in China and the Jesuits’ church in Macau."⁶ Perhaps these artists or less well-documented colleagues were responsible for painting this textile.  Scientific analysis of the hanging’s pigments supports this intercultural possibility: results show a blue-green pigment not used in Asia and a white not used in Europe. Furthermore, the white pigment occurs more frequently in Japanese than in Chinese contexts.⁷[Melinda Watt, adapted from Interwoven Globe, The Worldwide Textile Trade, 1500-1800/ edited by Amelia Peck; New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art; New Haven: distributed by Yale University Press, 2013] 1. Campbell et al., Tapestry in the Renaissance: Art and Magnificence, p. 19. 2. The two others at the Metropolitan Museum are acc. nos. 50.97.2 and 51.152. Of the hangings in other collections, two are in the Musee des Beaux-Arts, Lyon (see Briend, Les objets d’art, pp. 76–77), and one is with Steinitz, Paris (see Courtin and Langeois, Steinitz, pp. 34–36). For additional details, see Standen, European Post-Medieval Tapestries, vol. 2, pp. 796–802. 3. Ibid., pp. 799, 802 n. 9. 4. Similarity to works of Marcantonio Raimondi was noted in Mailey, "European Sculpture and Decorative Arts: The Abduction of Helen." See also Standen, European Post-Medieval Tapestries, vol. 2, p. 799. 5. The painting is preserved in the collection of the Church of the Gesu, Rome. See Levenson et al., Encompassing the Globe, pp. 288–89. 6. Bailey, Art on the Jesuit Missions in Asia and Latin America, p. 96. 7. Report by Marco Leona, David H. Koch Scientist in Charge of the Department of Scientific Research at the Metropolitan Museum, August 23, 2012.

Fragment de teixit rectangular de fons vermell amb els motius decoratius disposats en simetria de mirall sobre un eix central. Destaca un àliga -coronada i bicèfa- que subjecta amb les seves urpes un cor travessat per dues fletxes. El motiu s’envolta d’elements florals acompanyats d’ocells. El conjunt queda emmarcat per dues  sanefes verticals amb motius florals. 

L’àliga bicèfala que sosté amb les seves urpes un cor travessat per dues fletxes és el símbol de l’orde agustiniana. El dret a utilitzar l’àliga de dos caps –símbol dels Haubsburg- va ser atorgat per la dinastia dels Austries a l’església del Sagrat Nen Jesús a Cebú, Manila, l’any 1565. Molts teixits que porten aquest emblema van ser comissionats per l’orde agustiniana i van ser realitzats a Canton, Macao o Fukien (Xina) des d'on eren enviats per mar a Acapulco pel seu ús en les esglèsies d’Amèrica Llatina i cap a Sevilla per a la seva exportació cap a Europa. (veure bibliografia)

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