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What structures and shapes people’s social and spatial mobility? How did people become aware of faraway peoples and regions? How did people view other powers and species? Visual and textual representations in this case provide instances for you to explore. Look for familiar rites of passage such as birth and death. Are there any beings who surprises you? Which people or beings seem familiar? Which strange?
What structures and shapes people’s social and spatial mobility? How did people become aware of faraway peoples and regions? How did people view other powers and species? Visual and textual representations in this case provide instances for you to explore. Look for familiar rites of passage such as birth and death. Are there any beings who surprises you? Which people or beings seem familiar? Which strange?
“Birth of Confucius” - Unknown author, Ming Dynasty. (15th Century).
“Birth of Confucius” - Unknown author, Ming Dynasty. (15th Century).
Notable births mark momentus occasions
Notable births mark momentus occasions
In the first image we see the Birth of Confucius, from the Illustrated Traces of the Sage Confucius, an album dated tentatively to the 15th century. In the second image from The Art of Healing and Health Care in India, we see the birth of Prince Murad, a Mughal prince from the sixteenth century. Each text celebrates birth and regeneration, a joyous occasion in any culture. Note that in each image divinity and the heavens play a role in birth: Confucius’s scene shows divine intervention; in the mortal birth depicted in The Art of Healing, men are interpreting solar signs to determine if the birth is auspicious.
At Left: “Birth of Confucius,” The Illustrated Traces of the Sage Confucius. Unknown author, Ming Dynasty. (15th Century).
At Right: The Art of Healing and Health Care in India: Twelve Miniatures by Editions Medicina Rara. A collection of miniatures dating from the 16th to the 19th centuries. (1980).
Mourning rituals give shape to death
Mourning rituals give shape to death
Just as celebrations mark the occasion of a birth, mourning rituals give shape to death. The image on the left represents death as the skeleton holding a stone coffin lid, while the image at right shows an European interpretation of Buddhist priests’ funereal procedures, which were originally observed and described by Dutch travelers to Japan.
At Left: Hours of the Virgin, in Latin, preceded by a Calendar in French, and followed by the Penitential Psalms and Litany, the Office of the Dead, and Prayers to the Virgin and Memorials for Saints, in Latin by the Catholic Church. (Before 1497).
At Right: Atlas Japanensis – 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).
This image comes from Cotton Tiberius B.V’s copy of The Marvels of the East, which is in Old English and Latin and tells of the strange peoples who live in parts of the world distant from early England. The image on the left is of a lion-headed people–one of many animal-human hybrids the work depicts. The one on the right is of a panotius: this race is best known for having large ‘ears like fans,’ which they would use to wrap around themselves at night to keep warm. They were reportedly so shy that they would flee upon seeing a stranger, “so swiftly one might think that they flew.”
An Eleventh-century Anglo-Saxon illustrated Miscellany: British Library Cotton Tiberius B.V. part I: Together with Leaves from British Library Cotton Nero D. II by British Library. (1983).
The Chinese emperor of the Qing dynasty (1644–1911), Kangxi (r. 1661–1722), on his throne over a tableau of dominion over land and sea. On land, a new hairstyle was imposed to symbolize loyalty to the new Manchu ruling house of the Qing, who overthrew the Ming dynasty (1368–1644). At sea, the Qing fleet, with the help of the Dutch, defeats a maritime force loyal to the Ming.
Atlas Chinensis: being a second part of a relation of remarkable passages in two embassies from the East-India company of the United provinces, to the Vice-Roy Singlamong and General Taising Lipovi, and to Konchi, emperor of China and East-Tartary. With a relation of the Netherlanders assisting the Tartar against Coxinga, and the Chinese fleet, who till then were masters of the sea. And a more exact geographical description than formerly, both of the whole empire of China in general, and in particular of every of the fifteen provinces. Collected out of their several writings and journals by Arnoldus Montanus and John Ogilby, translator. (1671).
Traveling to new lands meant encountering more than the people who lived there. Creatures like the bear depicted on the left, and the lamia, depicted on the right, are just some of creatures who could be found around the world. In The History, the familiar and fantastic exist side by side. The text warns of the strength and prowess of the bear, and counsels the reader to avoid the lamia, a temptress figure considered to be so comely she could seduce even with “no other voice but hissing like dragons.”
The History of Four-Footed Beasts and Serpents ... Edited by John Rowland. The whole rev., cor.inl. With the addition of two useful physical tables, by J[ohn] R[owland] M.D. Translated by Edward Topsell, Thomas Moffett, and Conrad Gessner. London: Printed by E. Cotes, for G. Sawbridge. (1658).
This image depicts a lady of high rank and her retinue. They are shown as part of a procession described in the text accompanying this image.
Atlas Japanensis – 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).
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