Artistic and Cultural Exchanges between Europe and Asia, 1400-1900: Rethinking Markets, Workshops and Collections

Description

The European expansion to Asia was driven by the desire for spices and Asian luxury products. Its results, however, exceeded the mere exchange of commodities and precious metals. The meeting of Asia and Europe signaled not only the beginnings of a global market but also a change in taste and lifestyle that influences our lives even today. Manifold kinds of cultural transfers evolved within a market framework that was not just confined to intercontinental and intra-Asiatic trade. In Europe and Asia markets for specific cultural products emerged and the transfers of objects affected domestic arts and craft production. Traditionally, relations between Europe and Asia have been studied in a hegemonic perspective, with Europe as the dominant political and economic centre. Even with respect to cultural exchange, the model of diffusion regarded Europe as the centre, and Asia the recipient, whereby Asian objects in Europe became exotica in the Kunst- und Wunderkammern. Conceptions of Europe and Asia as two monolithic regions emerged in this context. However, with the current process of globalization these constructions and the underlying models of cultural exchange have come under scrutiny. For this reason, the book focuses on cultural exchange between different European and Asian civilizations, whereby the reciprocal complexities of cultural transfers are at the centre of observation. By investigating art markets, workshops and collections in Europe and Asia the contributors exemplify the varieties of cultural exchange. The book examines the changing roles of Asian objects in European material culture and collections and puts a special emphasis on the reception of European visual arts in colonial settlements in Asia as well as in different Asian societies. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents List of Figures List of Tables List of Contributors Preface Introduction – Artistic and Cultural Exchanges between Europe and Asia, 1400–1900: Rethinking Markets, Workshops and Collections 1 Asian Objects and Western European Court Culture in the Middle Ages 2 The Euro-Asian Trade in Bezoar Stones (approx. 1500 to 1700) 3 Asia as a Fantasy of France in the Nineteenth Century 4 Material Culture, Knowledge, and European Society in Colonial India around 1800: Danish Tranquebar 5 Changing Cultural Contents: The Incorporation of Mughal Architectural Elements in European Memorials in India in the Seventeenth Century 6 Production and Reception of Art through European Company Channels in Asia 7 The Movable Center: The Netherlandish Map in Japan 8 Interpreting Cultural Transfer and the Consequences of Markets and Exchange: Reconsidering Fumi-e 9 An Assimilation between Two Different Cultures: Japan and the West during the Edo Period Index