Objects

An example of a student newsletter produced in MST 20B during Winter quarter 2023. David Knight's work here interprets artifacts from the Medieval period. 

The expanded title, "Being remarkable addresses by way of embassy from the East-India Company of the United provinces, to the emperor of Japan: containing a description of their several territories, cities, temples, and fortresses; their religions, laws, and customs; their prodigious wealth, and gorgeous habits; the nature of their soil, plants, beasts, hills, rivers, and fountains: with the character of the ancient and modern Japanners. Collected out of their several writings and journals by Arnoldus Montanus and John Ogilby. 1670" shows the various uses that this text was created to address. 

Banners, pennants, and seals were all used as markers of authority and identification in sixteenth and seventeenth century Japan. The following are seen in the display: 

1. The Seal of Edo

2. The Seal of Osaka

3. The Seal of Kyoto 

4. The Seal of Quano (it is unclear which city this refers to)

5. A pennant with the “emperor’s” (i.e. the shogun’s) arms and marks of his chief counsel

6. A great scalloped flag 

The codex was compiled from various fourteenth century musical composers in the early fifteenth century, likely at a monastery in Florence. Admire the rich gold foil embossing the pages of this manuscript, and the complexity of the musical notation. The ornate drop cap (large capital letter used as a decorative element) depicts Francesco Landini, one of the composers, playing a portative organ, which was a small pipe organ. By holding the instrument at a right angle, the musician would then use bellows to force air through the flue pipes, creating the tones of the song. Contemporary performers are returning to this instrument as a result of the early music revival. 

Il Codice Squarcialupi MS. Mediceo Palatino 87, Biblioteca laurenziana di Firenze by F. Alberto Gallo, editor. (1992). 

This text is one of the first Latin translations of this volume. It appeared in Spanish in 1631. The volume contains more information on the health benefits and therapeutic elements of chocolate. In this image, an Indigenous person representing the “New World” presents a box containing chocolate to the god Neptune, who symbolizes the “Old World.” 

Chocolata Inda: Opusculum de Qualitate & Naturâ Chocolatae by Antonio Colmenero de Ledesma. (1644). 

This codex depicts various scenes from Mayan life. The hypothesis for the original production date varies widely, but scholars agree that it was created between 1200- 1531. Shown here is a goddess and bride presenting her husband with cacao beans, symbolizing the fulfillment of a marriage contract. Chocolate and cacao were used to represent a variety of social bonds, and the preparation of chocolate drinks was a unique role for women. 

Codex Nuttall: Facsimile of an Ancient Mexican Codex Belonging to Lord Zouche of Harynworth, England by Zelia Nuttall, author of introduction; Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, publisher. (1902).

This image, one of a series of fifteen depicting a visit to the Yoshiwara licensed red light district in Edo, Japan in the seventeenth century, shows indentured sex workers on display for potential customers. The wooden lattice allowed passersby to choose a woman from whom he might purchase sexual services, though these services were provided elsewhere in a house of assignation, known as an ageya. Licensed red light districts were cultural centers, and the higher ranks of sex workers there were expected to be well-read, capable of sophisticated conversation, and skilled in various arts, such as playing the three stringed shamisen, two of which are shown hanging on the wall, or composing poetry on the spot. Two of the men passing by are wearing sedge hats, often worn in the Yoshiwara to protect their identities. 

Yoshiwara fūzoku zukan (Customs of the Yoshiwara Picture Scroll) - Hishikawa Moronobu. (1618-1694).