The present report shows a scientific analysis of two private Christian Lecterns in Portugal. We report on an optical investigation using visible light, infrared photography, and X-ray CT examination and wood identification conducted in January 2024 in Japan. Lectern (1) is a Japanese Nanban lacquer, possibly made in the 1630s, after the Christian ban. The center part of the backboard, where the IHS insignia of the Society of Jesus, one of the catholic orders is usually placed, is thickly re-coated by urushi lacquer in a circular area covering the insignia with a pine-tree pattern after the original decoration. Lectern (2) is a Luso-Asian Nanban style lacquer possibly produced in Macau or Ryukyu islands, likely made from the late sixteenth to early seventeenth centuries. Chinese hanzi ink inscriptions can be recognized on both the front and back wooden substrate surfaces, because the surface decoration have fallen off broadly. Another researcher has pointed out earlier that the inscription includes two Chinese characters, “澳門” meaning Macau. Those unique features presented the exclusive historical importance of these two lecterns, so the first author conducted the various kinds of research, aiming to record the detailed situation, elucidate the original pattern underneath the re-coated urushi lacquer on the center part, decipher the full text of the Chinese sentences, and understand the substrate structure or making techniques. As a result, the authors confirmed the presence of the IHS insignia, which had been expected, underneath the urushi re-coating for Lectern (1) by X-ray CT examination, and the ink inscription was visualized much more clearly by infrared photography. Furthermore, we confirmed again that each of these lecterns was made from one wood board, and that a hashibami top horizontal bar was attached only on Lectern (1). By wood identification of the sample taken from a broken part, it became clear that the hashibami top horizontal bar of Lectern (1) uses Thujopsis dolabrata Siebold et Zucc, and its wood substrate is possibly coniferous wood, both of which are to be Japanese woods. In contrast, Lectern (2) utilizes dicotyledonous wood, though the lectern’s production area is obscure. These wood differences between the two lecterns with different styles suggest that the probability of Lectern (1) being made in Japan and Lectern (2) produced overseas is much higher. This report is the first English-language publication, with a special focus on Nanban lecterns and Luso-Asian Nanban style lecterns, providing their X-ray CT images, along with visible and infrared photography and wood identification results. The authors believe that these data are highly effective in the conservation of cultural properties of the same kind, many of which are possessed in countries outside Japan. We also expect that this kind of investigation is necessary and that the investigation techniques would be generally considered useful among researchers, especially for important or rare objects research.
小林 et al. (2025) studied this question.