By DONNA URSCHEL
Distinguished historian Jonathan Spence, in the fourth Jay I. Kislak Lecture, described how Matteo Ricci, the 16th-century Jesuit priest, created the first map in Chinese to show the Americas.
“I’m an unabashed Ricci admirer,” Spence told the audience in the Coolidge Auditorium on April 13. He said Ricci is “one of the most impressive persons anyone can encounter.”
Spence, a leading expert on China, is the Sterling Professor of History, Emeritus, at Yale University, and the author of more than 20 books, including “The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci.”
Although Spence has been a Ricci scholar for years, he had never seen an original of the famous and rare 1602 World Map, until the day of his lecture at the Library of Congress. Spence told the audience he spent a delightful day, from after breakfast until dinner, in the Northwest Pavilion of the Jefferson Building, studying the Ricci Map. On loan from the James Ford Bell Trust, the map had been on display at the Library from Jan. 12 to April 17.
Spence expressed gratitude for an unknown Library staff member [later identified as Jim Hughes of Visitors’ Services] who pulled over a large, sturdy box of printer paper that the historian could stand on to view the top of the map. Two available stools failed to work; one was too short, the other was too tall and wobbly. The box was just right.
In 1552, Ricci was born to an affluent family in Macerata, in eastern Italy, and received an extraordinary, eclectic and broad education. He arrived in China in 1583 and established, with another priest, the first Jesuit mission.
“Ricci was six things at once,” said Spence. “He was a scholar, an observer, a linguist, a scientist, a writer and a man of God. All six are present in the map in different ways.”
While in China, Ricci kept two journals. The first was a running commentary on what he observed and tried to do in China. The second journal concerned his spiritual life and religious thoughts. The first journal survived, but Ricci destroyed the second one when he was dying in 1610.
Spence said Ricci’s writings in the first journal explain a lot about where the 1602 World Map came from and how it reached wider circles. The map needs to be seen as a growing and evolving force, according to Spence, with six stages to its creation.
The first stage took place from 1583 to 1584, known as the southeast China pioneering days. Ricci wrote that he had brought with him to China a one-sheet Western map, which he called the “universal map of the world.” The map was written “in our Westerner’s writing,” with Western projections and with China to one side.
Ricci displayed this Western map in a small house rented by the Jesuits. The map was an object of curiosity with the Chinese who came by the Jesuit house. Some of the visiting Chinese said the map didn’t seem to fit any of their ideas of how the world should look. They wanted to know if Ricci could place the titles of the countries into Chinese characters so they could get a better sense of the names. Ricci agreed.
The second stage was Ricci’s attempt to make a Chinese rendering of the Western names. Spence said, “Ricci did not have good Chinese at this time. He certainly wasn’t doing a fluid rewrite. He must have had help.”
Ricci also needed help with astronomy, claiming he was mediocre with math. He was reliant on the books he brought with him from Italy.
In his journal, Ricci said the map was larger than the one he brought with him, but still one sheet and small in size. The map remained simple, with 30 or 40 place names that were translated into Chinese. Also, China was placed a little more to the center of the map.
Quoting Ricci’s journal, Spence said, “The main importance of this map is that it helped the Chinese see how very far away we were, how far we traveled to come and work with them. When they saw the huge expanse, the Chinese were much less nervous of the scale and nearness of the Western states.”
More and more visitors came to see the map, and friends started making copies that were circulated widely.
The third stage occurred when Ricci was in Nanjing, where scholars asked him to make a map twice the size of his previous one. Spence said, “The place names begin to increase in number, and now everything on it is in Chinese characters.”
The fourth stage was the production of the 1602 Beijing edition, which is the famous map that was on display at the Library. Spence said Ricci doubled the size of the previous map, creating a six-panel version. The 30 to 40 place names increased to more than 1,000, and China is displayed at the center of the map.
Also, Ricci wrote descriptions on the map of the various areas, as well as reflections on religious life, studying cartography and on the contact between China and the West. About Europe, Ricci wrote, “This area of Europe has 30 or more countries and all follow the ways of kings … .” The one European product he talks about is the “excellent wine from grapes” from Italy (not France). At this stage, the map was so large (5.5 feet high by 12.5 feet long) and detailed that it took an entire year for the wood blocks to be carved.
During stage five, from 1602 to 1605, the map was pirated, with printers and others making unofficial copies and selling them widely. At one point, an eight-panel version of the map was developed and distributed.
Spence said stage five was also known for a color-tinted version. In his journal, Ricci said a court eunuch made a color-tinted edition of the map and gave it to Emperor Wanli in 1605. “The tinted version so pleased the emperor that he wanted another one. Then being emperor, he asked for 12 more. And then he asked for 12 on silk,” Spence said.
Stage six was when the tinted version became common in China. Many of the wood blocks, however, had been damaged in the great floods of 1607 and others were lost or damaged during the clean-up operations. A smaller version of the map was made that could be displayed more easily.
In the audience question-and-answer segment, Jay I. Kislak, who donated his collection of books, manuscripts, historic documents, artifacts, maps and art of the Americas to the Library, asked Spence what happened to the thousands of copies of the Ricci map that circulated in China. Spence speculated that self-censorship or anti-Catholic sentiment caused them to be discarded. But all in all, Spence said, “We don’t know. No one has found any copies.”
Donna Urschel is a public affairs specialist in the Library’s Public Affairs Office.