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Triangulating a Global Qing: China, Japan, and Europe in a Snuff Bottle

In: Journal of Early Modern History
Author:
Kristina Kleutghen David W. Mesker Associate Professor of Art History & Archaeology, Washington University in St. Louis MO USA

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https://orcid.org/0009-0003-5748-0789
Online Publication Date:
19 Nov 2024
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Abstract

In the early eighteenth century, a palm-sized snuff bottle was produced for China’s Kangxi 康熙 emperor (r. 1661–1722). Made in the Qing dynasty court workshops in Beijing, this tiny object paired European-style enamels (if not also imported pigments) painted on copper with two insets of Japanese black and gold maki-e lacquer. Combining Japanese and European materials in Chinese court arts is highly unusual, especially in so small an object, making the snuff bottle an extremely rare and rather experimental example. Yet this self-consciously globalizing object, whose imperial approval is present in the Kangxi reign mark (Kangxi nianzhi 康熙年製) on its base, reveals more than creative innovation and technical ingenuity. By combining materials, techniques, foreign origins, object function, and representational styles, it demonstrates a wide scope of foreign engagement on the part of the emperor who laid the foundation for the entire High Qing period (1662–1799).

Title:
Triangulating a Global Qing: China, Japan, and Europe in a Snuff Bottle
Article Type:
Research Article
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1163/15700658-bja10089
Language:
English
Pages:
548–559
Keywords:
Kangxi; Qing dynasty; painted enamel; maki-e lacquer; snuff bottle; cross-cultural exchange; decorative arts; global eighteenth century
In:
Journal of Early Modern History
In:
Volume 28: Issue 6
Received:
26 Jun 2023
Accepted:
22 Aug 2024
Publisher:
Brill
E-ISSN:
1570-0658
Print ISSN:
1385-3783
Subjects:
Early Modern History, History, Global History

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