Words on Things: Literature and Material Culture in Early Modern China

Catalog description

This course examines Chinese literary representation of artifacts written between 1000 to 1900 CE. Our discussion will highlight international trade and the transforming science and technology in early modern China. The course aims to guide students to conduct inter-artistic analysis as a means to decipher the political, religious, gendered, and technical significance embedded in literary representation of material objects. To emphasize a comparative perspective, we will also draw on scholarship outside of the field of Chinese literature. We will explore artifacts in the following categories: illustration, painting and calligraphy, seals, ceramics, furniture, and textile.