ABSTRACT
The Christian art objects, after being transferred to the Chinese context, were removed from the original cultural setting in which they had been produced and used, and became, in the eyes of the Chinese, strange yet fascinating novelties, the meaning of which required explication from their carriers. The image showing the Virgin Mary holding the Christ Child close to her cheek conveys a special feeling of warmth and protection, a characteristic common to the Madonna and Child type in general. It was for its gentle emotional appeal that the missionaries prized this particular genre above others. In the early period of the mission, there was no defimte vernacular term for describing a Madonna and Child. In the eyes of the Chinese the image could not match the visual identity as given by the Jesuit. The view is clearly mediated through the missionaries as believers. The Jesuits as Christian believers worshipped Jesus as God.
