XU SANCHUN (20TH CENTURY)
Jesus Washing the Feet of his Disciples
ink and colour on paper, unmounted.
135cm (53 1/8in) high x 35cm (13 3/4inin) wide
Footnotes:
徐三春 耶穌傳道 設色紙本 未裝裱
款識：服役衆生。耶穌說，我若不洗你，你就與我無分了。人子來，並不是要受人的服事，乃是要服事人的。徐三春敬繪。
藏印：「永惠」「三春畫印」

In 1926 Bishop Shen Zigao (1893 – 1982), the Oxford and Cambridge educated theologian, had set up the art society 'St Luke's Studio' with the expressed purpose of encouraging the creation of art within the Chinese church. One of the leading artists of the movement was Xu Sanchun who converted to Christianity having previously worked in the railways. His work was often critiqued by the Bishop himself to help it communicate the tenets of Christianity to a Chinese audience through indigenous artistic means.

Works by the artist are exceptionally rare. A poster of a work by Xu is currently in the collection of the Hong Kong Baptist University Library Art Collection, accession number 226-095.

The present image is taken from the Bible's New Testament, John 13:1-17 tells of how Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, as a demonstration of his humility. It was one of a series of four works, now thought to be lost, commissioned by Bishop Zigao to represent the four tenets of the Christian faith: prayer, healing, preaching and service, created to hang on a side wall of the guest hall of St Luke's Studio in Nanjing.

A version of the present work is reproduced in Daniel Johnson Fleming, Each With his Own Brush: Contemporary Christian Art in Asia and Africa, 1938, p.19.