: The lost tale of a Goan goldsmith in Lisbon and what it says about Portugal’s colonial conquests #IndiaNEWS The Lisbon quay juts into water veined with silver cloud-light. Here, on the Ribeira das

The lost tale of a Goan goldsmith in Lisbon and what it says about Portugal’s colonial conquests #IndiaNEWS
The Lisbon quay juts into water veined with silver cloud-light. Here, on the Ribeira das Naus, the river Tagus expands and churns, then disgorges itself into the Atlantic.I stand outside a dried salt-cod warehouse from the 1940s. Now the Museu do Oriente, it marks Portugal’s presence, from the 1500s, in Goa, Japan, Macau, and Timor. The bright shock of riverside sun gives way to dark galleries inside. In climate-controlled vitrines is a bronze Virgin Mary from Mughal India. A cedar wood sculpture from Goa of Saint Francis Xavier. A Nanban painting from Edo Japan of Portuguese merchants. They are mostly from the 1600s, before Portugal’s eclipse in Asia by the Dutch, French, and British. A glancing mention catches my eye. Of a Goan goldsmith brought to Lisbon five centuries ago. In 1518, Raulu Chatim – referred to here as Rauluchantim in the museum – disembarked at the river Tagus. Yet Raulu Chatim is an absent presence. He made jewellery for Portugal’s King Manuel. But nothing of him remains: no objects, no biography, and no story. I browse the museum’s items. These do tell a story: one that is brittle, needing its own protective vitrine. On a gallery wall is a text panel that preempts political...Read more

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