The Drawings of Ferdinando Bonaventura Moggi (1684-1761) and the Applied Arts Workshops (Zaobanchu) at the Qing Court

This chapter has two goals: the first is to examine two drawings preserved in the Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino in Lisbon, which can safely be attributed to Ferdinando Bonaventura Moggi (Li Boming 李博明), thanks to the contents of a letter he wrote; the second is to situate the activity of this Florentine architect-engineer in the context of the Zaobanchu 造辦處 (Applied Arts Workshops), that is, the twenty-eight ateliers founded in 1680 at the Qing court, where glassworks, enamel furnishings, clocks, cannons, paintings, maps, and much more were produced. Because the two drawings show the interior and the exterior of the church called Nossa Senhora da Assunção in axonometry, one might at first be led to believe that no relationship existed between architectural works and the Applied Arts Workshops. On the contrary, the activity of almost all the missionaries residing in the capital occurred in these two places: the imperial court and the more exquisite missionary one. Caught between the wishes of the Manchu rulers and those of their order’s superiors, the missionaries endowed with technical, scientific, or artistic skills had little freedom and did their best to please one or the other. This is the case with Moggi’s contemporary, Matteo Ripa (1682−1745), who is well studied, though questions concerning his professional training or, rather, its absence, has yet to receive sufficient attention