Mulheres Tanka de Macau

Nº de referência da peça: 
D1864

Macao Tanka Women
Chinese School, 19th century
Oil on canvas
Dim: 45.6 cm × 60.0 cm
Prov.: G. Santana de la Fuente, Madrid; Jorge Ferreira, Lisbon
D1864

Mulheres Tanka de Macau
Óleo s/tela
Escola chinesa, século XIX
Dim: 45.6 cm × 60.0 cm
D1857

Erudite pictorial composition in which a tenuous horizon line
intersects sky and earth, with the ethereal mountains inserted into
that same sky and absorbed by the colour pallet.
In the foreground, two women and a child shielded by a Tanka
boat. The older woman, dressed in blue with red headscarf, an attire
characteristic of the Tanka people, is seated by a fire over which
a kettle is heating up, observed by the younger woman and the
child. The bright red details, the only warm colour that is featured,
reinforce, and highlight this main scene. An almost vertical sky
light brightens the scenery by shining on the sandy beach, a detail
consistent with the mealtime. On the riverbank another Tanka
boat with a standing figure contemplating the horizon.
In the distance, a sampan boat seems to sail towards the
opposite mountainous bank, where other small vessels can be discerned,
conveying an ambience of tranquillity and reflection. In the
background, together with the sky and the clouds, the mountains
stand out from the scene, impressive and almost divine, completing
the composition.
This oil on canvas landscape, portraying a coastal area close to
Macao, is focused on an everyday Tanka family scene, on the beach,
close to their boat home. A highly accomplished work, it would
have been painted by a Chinese artist close to George Chinnery,
on account of the depicted scene and its excellent pictorial and
chromatic quality, that reflects the evident intercultural fusion
that occurred in visual arts.
The Tanka fishing communities lived on boats beached along
riverbanks or anchored in streams and estuaries. The larger boats could accommodate families of four or more people, together with
fishing nets, bird cages, poultry and one or two dogs. Some older
Tanka still live on their boat dwellings and maintain the traditional
fishing livelihood. Women were responsible for sailing the vessels
and for their conservation. Renowned for their good spirits and
for their music, known as ‘salt-water songs’, they would carry their
children until they were able to crawl, and put in a lifejacket for
protection against drowning. 1 Each boat would normally have a
crew of two women; one behind an oar, composed of two elements
joined and supported on an iron fitting, responsible for moving
the boat, and the other seated at the bow, pulling another oar. 2
Tanka (蛋家) or "boat dwellers", are a minority population
in Southern China that lives on junks in the coastal areas of
Guangdong, Fujian, Hong Kong and Macao. ‘Tank’ is a Cantonese
term for boat or junk and ‘ka’ means family. The term Tanka is
no longer used for its derogatory connotation, Historically Tanka
were considered outcasts and ‘untouchable’, being often referred as
‘sea-gipsies’ by other Chinese and by the British from Hong-Kong.
Although they have been considered ancient Southwestern
Asian migrants, the origin of the Tanka lies in a native ethnic minority
from South China, known as Baiyue (1000 BCE – 1000 CE),
who might have taken refuge at sea, gradually assimilating the Han
culture, while preserving many of their original traditions

--

Paisagem da cidade portuária de Macau com duas figuras femininas, uma criança e barco Tanka em terra. À beira-rio, outra embarcação identica com barqueira no seu interior. Ao fundo, a montante, navega um barco sampana que conduz o olhar para o relevo escarpado. A jusante avista-se o seguimento das margens do rio.
A pintura mostra um episódio do quotidiano feminino dos barcos Tanka, quando estes eram trazidos para terra e transformados em residências de praia. Em primeiro plano, é visível uma mulher aparentemente mais velha com vestimentas azuis e lenço vermelho, sentada. Atrás dela encontra-se uma segunda, possuindo vestes castanhas e acolhendo uma criança no seu colo. Nesta paisagem costeira fixavam-se comunidades piscatórias que residiam nestas embarcações, essencialmente conduzidas por mulheres, como as duas figuras observadas.
As barqueiras Tanka eram conhecidas pela sua boa disposição e pela conservação da embarcação. As mulheres carregavam os seus bebés até que estes conseguissem gatinhar; alcançada esta meta, as crianças recebiam um “colete salva-vidas” para impedir o seu afogamento. Uma ficava encarregada de mover o barco através do remo, composto por duas peças unidas e apoiadas num suporte de ferro, e outra sentava-se na proa, puxando outro remo.
As representações pictóricas de China Trade caracterizam-se por cenas marítimas (embarcações de guerra e de comércio, portos ou cidades portuárias), paisagísticas, retrato e quotidiano. A partir de finais do século XVIII, as trocas culturais e artísticas entre europeus e chineses resultaram num estilo híbrido, com notória perícia e requinte de realização descritiva e minuciosa. A maioria era produzida em aguarela e guache sobre papel e tinha como principal característica a diversidade de cores, assumindo-se como uma espécie de “postais ilustrados”. Estas obras atingiriam maior popularidade em meados do século XIX por conta da tendência do Orientalismo Estético.

Bibliografia:
CHINNERY, George. Imagens de Macau Oitocentista. Instituto Cultural de Macau, 1997
CONNER, Patrick. The Hongs of Canton – Western merchants in South China 1700-1900, as seen in Chinese export paintings. London: English Art Books, 2019.
CROSSMAN, Carl L. The Decorative Arts of the China Trade – Paintings, Furnishings and exotic curiosities. Suffolk: Antique Collector’s Club, 1988.
HOWARD, David Sanctuary. New York and the China Trade. Nova Iorque: The New-York Historical Society, 1984.
NUNES, Cheila. A colecção de pintura China Trade (Séculos XVIII-XX) do Museu de Marinha - Inventário e Proposta de Exposição Temporária. Lisboa: Universidade de Lisboa, 2019. Dissertação de Mestrado.

  • Arte Colonial e Oriental
  • Artes Decorativas
  • Diversos

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