OVERVIEW

This course unit explores the artistic and cultural dissemination and irradiation exercised by China during the Song (960–1279), Yuan (1279–1368), Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1912) dynasties across East Asia, Europe and the West through trade, collecting, the transfer of technical and artistic skills and expertise, and the circulation of works of decorative art.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course unit is designed to provide an overview of the history of Chinese applied and decorative arts from the tenth to the nineteenth century within the broader framework of China’s cultural relations with East Asia, Europe and the West. China exerted a direct influence upon the artistic cultures of East Asia from antiquity onwards, whereas its influence upon Western Europe became substantial, significant and enduring after the discovery of the Americas, when Portugal and Spain inaugurated the first mercantile age of global scope and controlled it exclusively during the sixteenth century. From the seventeenth to the nineteenth century, trade with Asia was largely absorbed by the Dutch, English and French East India Companies, together with those of other European states. From the late eighteenth century and throughout the nineteenth, the United States of America likewise entered into commercial and political relations with China and with Asia more broadly.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The principal aims of the course unit are as follows:

1. To provide a comprehensive artistic overview of the principal lines of development in Chinese applied and decorative arts from the tenth to the nineteenth century, bringing into focus the universal contribution made by Chinese civilisation to East Asia, Europe and the West both through the dissemination of artistic and cultural elements and of materials of global significance and utility, such as silk and paper, and through the export and trade of decorative arts.
2. To prepare students to: (a) develop a transnational approach to the history of Chinese culture, grounded in the exploration and understanding of the influences, cultural innovations and vital artistic cross-fertilisations disseminated by China in East Asia, Europe and the West; (b) cultivate cross-cultural skills in the comparative analysis of local and global artistic and cultural phenomena; (c) understand and interpret the history of the arts and of ideas within extended geopolitical contexts; (d) underscore the role of Chinese collections outside China both as repositories of exemplary works and as sources for further dissemination of Chinese artistic, decorative and iconographic models.
3. To draw attention to the distinctive and unmistakable features of Chinese decorative productions—silk, archaistic bronzes, lacquers, porcelains and enamels—their rootedness in the supreme art of calligraphy and writing, their enduring influence in East Asia, and their importation into Europe between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries as luxury goods destined for aristocratic interiors.
4. To train students to (a) recognise and describe the decorative and technical-artistic categories of the Chinese artefacts studied in the course unit; (b) acquire mastery of the critical, aesthetic, historical and technical vocabulary appropriate to the description of the various decorative categories and ornamental typologies; (c) present the subject matter in clear, accurate and appropriate language.

By the end of the course unit, students will be able to:

1. Understand the historical significance of the influences, vital artistic cross-fertilisations and cultural innovations emanating from China from the Middle Ages to the Modern Age, which affected the civilisations of East Asia, Europe and the West through export trade and the collecting of Chinese decorative arts.
2. Regard the dissemination of Chinese artistic, decorative and iconographic models, together with the role of Chinese collections outside China, as an essential part of the globalisation of artistic knowledge and as exemplary repositories of art and culture.
3. Adopt a transnational approach to the history of Chinese decorative arts, thereby facilitating (a) comparison between local and global phenomena; (b) an understanding and interpretation of the arts and of ideas within an extended geopolitical and historical context; (c) the acquisition of cross-cultural skills concerning relations between China, East Asia, Europe and the West.

PREREQUISITES

For the third year of the Bachelor’s Degree in Conservation of Cultural Heritage, students are expected to have acquired the notions and content covered up to the second year.

TEACHING METHODS

Lectures in Italian, delivered during the second semester in the classroom with the aid of PowerPoint presentations. Attendance is not compulsory but is strongly recommended. Students who attend at least 50% of the lectures will be considered attending students.

The lecturer will recommend articles and essays for students to read, together with audiovisual materials to be discussed subsequently in class and during the examination.

The teaching programme and the examination syllabus are identical for attending and non-attending students alike. Both are required to study the compulsory materials listed in the bibliography and to be familiar with the content covered during the lectures.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Twenty lectures of two hours each (90 minutes of actual teaching) devoted to the following topics:

1. Historical introduction: the importance of the disseminating function exercised by China and by its decorative arts in East Asia, Europe and the West between the tenth and nineteenth centuries.
2. Calligraphy and writing: materials, supports, implements and paper.
3. The Chinese man of letters: the arts and furnishings of the studio.
4. Silk and sericulture.
5. Archaistic bronzes.
6. Lacquers.
7. Porcelains.
8. Enamels.
9. Visits to the National Museum of the Royal Palace, the National Gallery of Palazzo Spinola and the Museums of Strada Nuova, Genoa, for directly examining the holdings of Chinese and Japanese porcelains from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century, as integrated into the Baroque and Rococo furnishings of palaces formerly belonging to the Genoese aristocracy and subsequently transformed into public museums.
10. Visit to the ‘Edoardo Chiossone’ Museum of Oriental Art, Genoa, to focus on the Japanese collecting of Chinese art as documented by the museum holdings assembled by Edoardo Chiossone in Japan during the last quarter of the nineteenth century.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Compulsory materials:

• Harrison-Hall, J., China: A History in Objects, Einaudi, Turin, 2018 (illustrated colour edition).
• Jenyns, R. S., Watson, W., Arts de la Chine. Or - Argent - Bronzes d’époques tardives - Émaux - Lacques - Bois, French version by Daisy Lion-Goldschmidt, Office du Livre, Fribourg, 1963 (available for consultation at the DOCSAI Library, Genoa).
• Roberts, J. A. G., History of China, Il Mulino, Bologna, 2001 (Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing periods).
• PowerPoint lectures delivered in class.
• Notes taken individually by students both during classroom lectures and during visits to Genoese museums.
• Articles, essays and materials recommended or supplied by the lecturer during the course unit.

LESSONS

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

Oral examination in Italian. Students will be assessed on their ability to relate the various topics, themes and phenomena addressed in the course unit. During the examination, questions will concern the entire syllabus, including the compulsory texts and any supplementary readings indicated or supplied during lectures. Assessment will take into account the degree of knowledge and depth of understanding attained, the quality of exposition, the capacity for critical and historical orientation, the familiarity acquired with materials, techniques and decorative typologies, and knowledge of the works presented during lectures.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

Students must demonstrate that they have assimilated the syllabus, acquired the fundamental knowledge of the course unit, are able to develop one or more topics addressed in the lectures, describe and explain the cultural contexts and works illustrated during the course, and situate the content correctly within its Chinese historical and cultural settings. The oral examination will be assessed according to the following criteria:

(1) Coherence and consistency in describing historical-artistic and socio-cultural contexts;

(2) Quality of critical reasoning concerning the subject and its topics;

(3) Quality of exposition and correct use of aesthetic, historical and technical vocabulary.

ERASMUS STUDENTS

Erasmus students whose command of Italian is insufficient may study the French and English editions of the compulsory texts and sit the examination in English.

Students with disabilities or specific learning disorders (SpLDs)

In order to agree upon teaching and examination arrangements which take account of individual learning needs and provide appropriate compensatory measures while respecting the aims of the course unit, students are advised to submit valid certification of disability, specific learning disorders or other special educational needs and to contact:

- Prof. Elisabetta Colagrossi, DIRAAS contact person (elisabetta.colagrossi@unige.it);

- Prof. Sara Dickinson, DLCM contact person (sara.dickinson@unige.it);

- Prof. Donatella Failla, the lecturer, at the beginning of the course (Donatella.Failla@unige.it).

EXAMINATION SESSIONS

Summer session (May–September): four examination sittings, one of which is reserved for finalist students.

Winter session (January–February): three examination sittings.

Outside the periods specified in the Degree Programme regulations, extraordinary examination sittings will not be granted except to students who are out of course.

FURTHER INFORMATION

The course unit, prepared for Year 3 in Conservation of Cultural Heritage, DIRAAS, is also available for Years 2 and 3 of Bachelor Degree in Modern Languages and Cultures (Chinese language), DLCM, and for the Master’s Degree in Languages and Intercultural Communication for Institutions and Enterprises (Chinese language), DLCM.