
Pictures and Visuality in Early Modern China
Craig Clunas
The sixteenth century in China was a period of rapid and unprecedented economic expansion. The period also saw a parallel growth in the sphere of cultural production,as a growing class of consumers benefited from the formation of one of the classic early modern consumer societies.
Pictures were a major source of consumable luxury at this time; pictures not only in the form of images classifiable as ‘art’, but also in the form of wall decoration, in books, maps, images on ceramics, and even on the dress of the prosperous. Artefacts that had previously been decorated with formal patterns now bore landscape scenes, representations of historical characters and incidents, and scenes from literature, often closely related to the world of the illustrated book.
This is the first attempt to survey this vast array of images in all its aspects, providing a stimulating and innovative point of entry to Chinese history. Pictures and Visuality in Early Modern China will be of interest to students of China’s history and culture and to anyone exploring theories of visuality.
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Reviews for Pictures and Visuality in Early Modern China
Times Higher Educational Supplement
reveals the tantalizing array of images to be considered in pursuit of a full understanding of Chinese pictorial culture. It is hoped that this study will stimulate similar studies for other periods, creating a wider and fuller understanding of the ways in which images were deployed and understood in China. We still have a long way to go to escape the limitations of the traditional accounts that are the focus of Professor Clunass criticism.
Apollo