This large cross is decorated with mother-of-pearl inlay in the form of delicate scrolling floral and vine designs. Flowering plants emerge from pots at the centre and base, with details engraved using blackened highlights. Crosses like this were made for the local Christian community in Vietnam and China using east Asian rosewood (Dalbergia latifolia). Here a familiar Western form is slightly adapted by Eastern materials and craftsmanship. The floral decoration combines different artistic influences: the bottom of the cross features European acanthus leaves contrasted with an Asian treatment of a plant and flowerpot. The lobed terminals of the cross and the vegetal base may derive from earlier eastern Christian prototypes, brought to Asia by Nestorian Christians who reached India and China in the 6th and 7th centuries.Christianity was first introduced to Vietnam in the 16th century by Jesuit missionaries. It became more influential during French Colonial rule over Vietnam in the late 19th and early 20th century. Missionaries immersed themselves in the local culture, and the resulting cultural interaction produced devotional objects with a hybrid aesthetic borrowing from both artistic and religious traditions.
