Art confiscations and cultural diplomacy : the Ming (1368-1644) imperial inventory system at work
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- This dissertation explores the role inventory systems played in mapping, defining, and legitimizing the imperial power of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). It contributes to comparative studies of legal histories and inventory practices in the early modern world at large. The inventory marks take two different forms: half-seals and half-codes that appear on 201 canonical 6th-14th century Chinese paintings and calligraphies. Although undetected by art historians, these half-marks help to unravel violent history of imperial art confiscations. I argue that these inventory half-marks indicate property confiscations perpetrated by Emperors Hongwu (r. 1368-1398), Jiajing (r. 1522-1566), and Wanli (r. 1573-1620). When facing the state's financial crisis, the Ming emperors dismissed their prime ministers and took their property, because the ministers' power and wealth irritated the emperors. I further prove that the confiscation law at the time required every seized item to be marked with half-character credentials. Halves of the marks were stamped on the art, whereas the other halves were printed on official ledgers, and the emperors kept the ledgers. Functioning similarly to contemporary barcodes on merchandise, the half-seals and half-codes recorded on the ledgers allowed the Ming emperors to track down the forfeited treasures. In contrast to previous scholarship which highlights positive aspects of art collecting, I instead explore the darker side of art collecting culture. In this way, my dissertation takes a new approach to look at the after-life of art objects, which includes the ownership, censorship, and imperial competition with prime ministers over art collections. Interestingly, half marks occurred not only in Ming Chinese inventory accounts, but also on Asian trade permits. I further place the Ming inventory system in the wider context of a globalizing world by exploring how the system proliferated throughout Asia. The Ming founding emperor Hongwu issued limited inventory codes as trade permits to other Asian countries, in order to establish a Sinocentric world view and to control international trade. I show how Korean, Japanese, Thai, and Javanese kingdoms assimilated the Ming inventory systems, and then modified them to create their own methods of codification. The logic of transforming objects into formulaic inventory codes illuminates the ways in which the emperors mapped out their political landscapes. Drawing upon a diverse array of inventory codes, I demonstrate how China and its neighbors used such codes to negotiate space, claim ownership of marked items, and assert hegemony over the empire.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2015 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Pang, Huiping |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Art and Art History. |
| Primary advisor | Vinograd, Richard Ellis |
| Thesis advisor | Vinograd, Richard Ellis |
| Thesis advisor | Dien, Albert E |
| Thesis advisor | Egan, Ronald, 1948- |
| Thesis advisor | Wolf, Bryan Jay |
| Advisor | Dien, Albert E |
| Advisor | Egan, Ronald, 1948- |
| Advisor | Wolf, Bryan Jay |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Huiping Pang. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Art and Art History. |
| Thesis | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Stanford University, 2015. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2015 by Hui-Ping Pang
Also listed in
Loading usage metrics...