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Collecting Karamono Kodō 唐物古銅 in Meiji Japan: Archaistic Chinese Bronzes in the Chiossone Museum, Genoa, Italy

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Collecting Karamono Kodō 唐物古銅 in Meiji Japan: Archaistic Chinese Bronzes in the Chiossone Museum, Genoa, Italy Transcultural Perspectives 4/2020 - 1 Gonatella Failla "ollecting karamono kod( 唐物古銅 in Mei3i Japan: Archaistic Chinese 4ronzes in the Chiossone Museum, Genoa, Ital* Introduction public in the special e>hibition 7ood for the The Museum of Oriental Art, enoa, holds the Ancestors, 7lo#ers for the ods: Transformations of !apanese and Chinese art collections #hich Edoardo Archaistic 4ronzes in China and !apan01 The e>hibits Chiossone % enoa 1833-T()*( 1898) -athered during #ere organised in 5ve main cate-ories: archaistic his t#enty-three-year sta* in !apan, from !anuary copies and imitations of archaic ritual 2ronzes; 1875 until his death in April 1898. A distinguished 4uddhist ritual altar sets in archaistic styleC )aramono professor of design and engraving techniques, )od( hanaike, i.e0 Chinese @o#er 2ronzes collected in Chiossone #as hired 2* the Meiji -overnment to !apan; Chinese 2ronzes for the scholar’s studioC install modern machinery and esta2lish industrial !apan’s reinvention of Chinese archaismB 2ronze and production procedures at the Imperial Printing iron for chanoyu %tea ceremony), for 2unjincha %tea of 4ureau, T()*(, to instruct the youn- -eneration of the literati,, and for @o#er arrangement in the formal designers and engravers, and to produce securit* rik)a style0 printed products such as 2anknotes, state 2ond 4esides documenting the a-es-old, multifaceted certificates, monopoly and posta-e stamps. He #as interest of China in its o#n antiquit* and its unceasing #ell-)no#n also as a portraitist of contemporaneous revivals, the Chiossone 2ronze collection attests to historic 5-ures, most nota2ly Philipp-7ranz von the !apanese tradition of -athering Chinese 2ronzes 9ie2old %1796-1866, and Emperor Meiji %1852-1912, r. from the Kama)ura period %1185-1333) up to the Meiji 1867-1912)0 The enoese artist amassed a2out era %1868-1912)0 Chinese archaistic 2ronzes are part 20,000 #or)s of art, a one-man collection that since of the )aramono 唐 物 cate-ory, the much sought- 1905 constitutes the ‘Edoardo Chiossone< Museum of after ‘things Chinese< re-arded in !apan as loft* enoa, the oldest public museum of East Asian art artistic e>amples and #itnesses to the cultural and esta2lished in Italy, and comprising !apanese spiritual e>cellence of China0 Initially cultivated 2* Zen antiquities, Chinese and !apanese antique mirrors, 4uddhist clerg* in the thirteenth-fourteenth centuries, armour, arms and sword 5ttings, paintings, this collecting tradition #as transmitted to the military polychrome prints and #ood2loc) printed 2oo)s, =( aristocrac* of the fourteenth-5fteenth centuries. Then, theatre masks, 2ronze and #ooden 4uddhist during the 5fteenth-sixteenth centuries, it #as sculpture, ceramic and porcelain, costumes, )ata-ami diffused amongst the tea men %chajin 茶 人 , and the and te>tiles, Chinese and !apanese lac1uerware, masters of @oral art0 7urthermore, 2et#een the mid- enamels, and more. eighteenth and the late ninteenth century, it 2ecame Amon-st these artefacts there is a major part of the cultural interests of fervent admirers of collection of a2out 1,600 2ronzes, including Chinese China such as the senchajin 煎茶人 and the 2unjin 文 archaistic pieces data2le from the 9outhern 9on- 人 , adepts of the ;#a* of steeped tea< and ‘men of dynast* %1127-1279, up to the late ?ing dynast* letters’, respectively. %1644-1911), imported to !apan in the thirteenth to Thanks to its typolo-ical completeness and nineteenth centuries, as #ell as later !apanese stylistic variety, the Chiossone 2ronze collection 2ronzes influenced 2* the former. 7rom this collection affords the stud* and research not only of aspects of A certainly the most numerous and significant of its China-Japan art relations, 2ut also of the transplant of )ind in Italy, and one of the largest in Europe A a Chinese art forms and decorative idioms into the very select -roup of some one hundred and t#ent* pieces 2od* of the !apanese artistic and aesthetic traditions. has 2een recently introduced to scholars and the 7or this reason, the collection constitutes a relevant Gonatella 7ailla "ollecting )aramono )od( 唐物古銅 in Mei3i !apan )unstte>te0de 4/2020 - 2 case in point in three particular aspects. 7irst, it Made 2* the piece-mould casting method, the documents the phenomenon of de-localisation of art- imperisha2le bronze vessels were considered the best historical materials out of their original civilisation, and and most appropriate ritual containers for conserving their representativeness in the ne# conte>t, especially and presenting offerings of fermented 2evera-es, ra# as far as coherent, diachronically numerous and #ell- and coo)ed cereals and meats to the Ancestors’ preserved groups of artefacts are concerned0 9econd, spirits, -uarantors and protectors of the continuit* of it 2espea)s the perception and representation of human -enealo-*0 7rom times remote the ritual China through the selective -a8e and aesthetic ideals 2ronze vessels constituted a foremost cate-ory of cultivated over several centuries 2y the men of culture aristocratic collecting, 2eing endo#ed 2oth #ith a #ho esta2lished the !apanese classical canons of art, virtually eternal dura2ility, and #ith an inherent 2eaut* and taste0 Third, it sho#s the influence e>erted offensive potential: for this reason, for a2out four 2* these de-localised art materials in the ne# cultural millennia the* #ere constantly maintained 2* the conte>ts A in@uence to 2e intended here in the #idest po#erful fe# under their direct control and possible sense, i.e0 cop* 2* design, imitation and possession. reproduction in 2ronze and other media, alteration of Concomitantly #ith momentous, important shape, complete or partial change of function and political transformations, the antique 2ronze and usa-e, transformation of meaning and novel #ays of metal collections #ere, if not destroyed in #arfare, classification. looted and transferred to the ne# po#ers and the emerging elite0 These circumstances reconfirm and 4ronze vessels as sym2ols of eternity in $ast clearly indicate their importance not only as products Asia and 2eyond of high-level technolo-* and conveyors of a latent yet Guring the Northern 9on- dynast* %960-1127,, real potentialit* to inflict violence, 2ut especially as consistent num2ers of archaic ritual 2ronzes #ere long-standing sym2ols of le-itimate authorit*0 The retrieved, collected, studied, catalo-ued and material itself, ho#ever, even #hen ‘immo2ilised< in illustrated, as #ell as copied and creatively large, ma-ni5cent ritual vessels or sacred eH-ies, reproduced in 2ronze and ceramic0 These com2ined #holly maintains its a--ression potential, as it can 2e activities of studying and reproducing antiquities -ave melted do#n and reused to ma)e arms. 9uch rise to the centuries-old, long-lasting stylistic circumstances are recorded in modern !apanese phenomenon de5ned 2* #estern scholars as history: in the 1870s, 2ronze statues and vessels ‘archaism< and ‘antiquarianism<0 This #as a most originally 2elonging to 4uddhist temples and important contribution not only to identifying and monasteries #ere confiscated 2* the thousands restoring the typolo-ies of archaic vessels up to the throu-hout the country and recycled to produce the end of Chinese dynastic history, 2ut also to spreading military e1uipment for the modern army. the idiom of archaistic decoration to virtually every Mutatis mutandis, the possession and control of e>pression of Chinese art. the 2ronze antique patrimonies are perpetuated to To understand at least in part the sym2olic contemporary times. 7rom the last 1uarter of the importance of 2ronze collecting 2oth in China and nineteenth century to the second decade of the !apan, one has to ta)e into account, 5rst of all, the t#entieth century, the political disinte-ration of the intrinsic meaning of this art material, 2oth in cultural Chinese empire ruled 2* the ?ing dynasty, and the and sacral terms. A2ounding in cultural, religious, international rise of !apan as a modernised national ritual, sym2olic and socio-political significances, in po#er constitute the historic scenario in #hich archaic China the production of ritual vessels and #ar ma-matic transformations too) place re-arding e1uipment in 2ronze A arms, armour, structural and 5nancial, industrial, military and political ornamental 5ttings for horse and war #a-on trappings internationalisation, modernisation and reor-anisation. A represented a highly specialised technolo-* 5rmly At the same time, these eventful changes placed under the direct control of the elite in po#er. considera2ly in@uenced the shifting, de-localisation Gonatella 7ailla "ollecting )aramono )od( 唐物古銅 in Mei3i !apan )unstte>te0de 4/2020 - ' and redistribution, especially to#ards Europe,2 !apan' inte-ral part of the deep and #ide research on and the I9A,4 of important artistic and cultural antiquit* carried out 2* Chinese literati, and lasted patrimonies, amongst #hich the historical collections uninterruptedly even 2eyond the end of the ?ing of archaic and archaistic Chinese 2ronzes hold a dynast* in 1911. Gescending from the military prominent place0 Not incidentally, it #as in Meiji aristocrac* of previous a-es, and sharing in common !apan, during the last 1uarter of the nineteenth a thorou-h )no#led-e of the classics, this social century, and precisely in the conte>t of modernisation -roup of public servants used to deal #ith every 5eld and internationalisation, that the Chiossone 2ronze of art, history and thought on multiple reference collection #as amassed roughly
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