French-Italian sinologist, missionary and botanical collector. Born at Turin, Joseph Callery was educated in France at Lyons and Chambery before joining the Missions Etrangères. It was in this way that he found himself sailing for China and Korea as a missionary in 1835, visiting Batavia (Jakarta) and the Philippines on the journey. In the latter he explored north Luzon and made a fine collection of birds which he presented to the Museum of Turin.

Reaching Macau in 1836, Callery began intensive study of the Chinese and Korean languages, while in his spare time he explored the flora and geology of Macau and Canton. Based on his observations, in 1836 he published Etat géologique des côtes méridionales de la Chine. He also compiled a Chinese-Latin dictionary, published in 1841.

Callery returned to France in 1842 but was in China once more the following year as interpreter to the French consulate in Canton. He was also attached to the trade agreement-seeking embassy led by T. de Lagrené in 1844. On this occasion he had the opportunity of visiting Chusan, Shanghai, Ningpo and Amoy (Xiamen), before his return to France in 1846, where he settled in Paris. He apparently presented some 2,000 species of plants (a few of which were new to science) to the Paris Museum of Natural History in 1845 and 1850, mostly from Macau but also from Luzon. Naturalised as a French subject, he was engaged as secretary-interpreter to the crown, which post he occupied until his death. The Callery pear, which he introduced to Europe from China, is named after him.

Sources:
E. Bretschneider, 1898, History of European Botanical Discoveries In China: 525-527.