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Indlæser... Empire of Great Brightness: Visual and Material Cultures of Ming China, 1368-1644af Craig Clunas
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Empire of Great Brightness is an innovative and accessible history of a high point in Chinese culture as explored through the riches of its images and objects. Emphasizing the vibrant interactions between China and the rest of Asia at this period, it challenges notions of Ming China as a culture closed off from the rest of the world. Eminent historian Craig Clunas uses a wide range of pictures and objects from Ming China to illustrate areas such as painting and ceramics. He also draws on items like weapons and textiles from public and private collections, as well as contemporary sources from government edicts to novels, to illuminate this most diverse period of Chinese art and culture. Empire of Great Brightness offers a varied and stimulating resource for scholars of China's cultural history, historians and art historians of related aspects of the early modern world, and readers who are intrigued by China's past. "An excellent companion for the study of Ming art, as well as giving established scholars food for thought and engaging in Ming Chinese culture."--Art Newspaper "This is an eminently readable history of the high point of Chinese cultures, seen through the riches of its images and objects."--Asian Art Survey No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Indlæser... GenrerMelvil Decimal System (DDC)951.026History and Geography Asia China and region History 960-1644 Ming dynastyLC-klassificeringVurderingGennemsnit:
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The Ming, we discover, was more an age of 'do what I say, not what I do' as readers discover the gaps that Clunas excels at spotting--for example, Confucians may have insisted on the ability to reprimand an emperor, but the reality was that it could be costly to one's life (as in the case of Lian Zining who "volubly challenged the usurping Yongle emperor..and had his tongue ripped out as a punishment" (p. 187)--an event that Shih-Shan Henry Tsai covers in less than one line in [b:Perpetual Happiness|993311|Perpetual Happiness|Shih-Shan Henry Tsai|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347502892s/993311.jpg|978805], p. 90. (These are two excellent volumes to read side-by-side as Clunas' cultural forensics add real depth to Tsai's excellent descriptive history of the dynasty's second emperor, Yongle.)
A word must be added about the excellent illustrations. Amongst the best features of this work are the many excellent illustrations that accompany the text ('seeing is believing'). Many publishers/authors cannot afford the fees some museums charge for use of their collections' photos, but Clunas has been the recipient of financial support from SOAS' Humanities Research Funds and SOAS Central Research Funds, which enabled him to acquire the book's illustrations from which we readers so greatly benefit. If only institutions would understand the importance of sharing their collections freely with the public (as the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam has newly done, to accolades from students everywhere). But the point is--another feature of this excellent text is its richness in appropriate and diverse illustrations. An excellent index (that includes important Chinese characters) and bibliography are the frosting on the cake. ( )