Yppong (birth date unknown, died in Maluku, 1614) was a Chinese merchant, presumably named Xing Pu 興浦 (simplified 兴浦) in Mandarin Chinese ("Yppong" is how his name was rendered in Latin and Dutch texts that record his travels).[1][2] He is one of the first Chinese and Asians to have visited Europe in recorded history.[3]
On 31 May 1600, he boarded a vessel for Europe at Banten, Java, purely out of curiosity, and arrived in Middelburg later that year, and would remain there for several months. During this period he was converted to Protestantism. According to historians, his level of calligraphy shows that he did not belong to the uppermost classes of society.[1][4]
He was probably portrayed by Rubens in his painting Miracles of St. Francis Xavier (c. 1617) and on a chalk drawing of the same year. The hat worn by Yppong on the portrayals designates literacy. Rubens and Yppong never actually met, as Rubens was in Venice at the time of Yppong's visit. Up to 2016, the man pictured was thought to be Korean, possibly António Corea.[1][5]
In popular culture
editIn 2019/2020, horeca tycoon Won Yip posed as Yppong for the photo series "Hollandse Meesters Herzien" in Museum The Hermitage, Amsterdam.[6]
In 2021, artist Lisianne Smit devoted an exhibition to Yppong in the Abdijcomplex in the city of Middelburg.[7]
In 2024, Yppong featured briefly in the Dutch TV series Hollandse Meesters Herzien.[8]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e Van Zeil, Wieteke (27 October 2016). "'Koreaan' van Rubens was eigenlijk eerste portret van een Chinees in Europa" [Rubens 'Korean' was actually first portrait of a Chinese in Europe]. De Volkskrant.
- ^ 韦斯斯泰因 葛思康 (2021). "鲁本斯作品中的"朝鲜男人"的新身份——中国商人兴浦的肖像". 世界美术. 3: 45-59.
- ^ "Department of Digital Arts and Creative Industries (DACI) - Lingnan University". www.ln.edu.hk. Retrieved 2024-03-30.
- ^ a b Weststeijn, Thijs (2023-06-26). "Anna Maria Van Schurman's Chinese Calligraphy". Early Modern Low Countries. 7 (1). doi:10.51750/emlc11103. ISSN 2543-1587.
- ^ Weststeijn, Thijs (2020-01-28), "Just Like Zhou: Chinese Visitors to the Netherlands (1597–1705) and Their Cultural Representation", Foreign Devils and Philosophers, Brill, pp. 104–131, doi:10.1163/9789004418929_006, ISBN 978-90-04-41892-9, retrieved 2024-03-30
- ^ https://urbanmyth.nl/voorstellingen/hollandse-meesters-herzien/
- ^ "Yppong Middelburg, scherven en schilderijen, Lisianne Smit". www.yppong.com (in Dutch). Retrieved 2024-10-11.
- ^ "Afleveringen Hollandse Meesters Herzien". Afleveringen Hollandse Meesters Herzien (in Dutch). Retrieved 2024-10-11.