Picturing technology in China : from earliest times to the nineteenth century
Golas, Peter J. Picturing technology in China : from earliest times to the nineteenth century. Hong Kong : Hong Kong university press, 2015.
Although the history of technological and scientific illustrations is a well-established field in the West, scholarship on the much longer Chinese experience is still undeveloped. This work by Peter Golas is a short, illustrated overview tracing the subject to pre-Han inscriptions but focusing mainly on the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties. His main theme is that technological drawings developed in a different way in China from in the West largely because they were made by artists rather than by specialist illustrators or practitioners of technology. He examines the techniques of these artists, their use of painting, woodblock prints and the book, and what their drawings reveal about changing technology in agriculture, industry, architecture, astronomical, military, and other spheres. The text is elegantly written, and the images, about 100 in all, are carefully chosen. This is likely to appeal to both scholars and general readers.
Ouvrage disponible à la bibliothèque de la Maison de l’Asie, fonds CECMC
Compte rendu
- Juan José Morales. Picturing technology in China : from earliest times to the nineteenth century by Peter J. Golas. Asian Review of Books, 22 July 2015. URL : http://www.asianreviewofbooks.com/pages/?ID=2328 (consulté le 7 décembre 2015)
Voir aussi
- Golas Peter J. Technical representation in China : tools and techniques of the trade. East Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine, 2003, 20, p. 11-44. URL : http://www.eastm.org/index.php/journal/article/view/334/268 (consulté le 7 décembre 2015)
OpenEdition vous propose de citer ce billet de la manière suivante :
Monique Abud (13 décembre 2015). Picturing technology in China : from earliest times to the nineteenth century. Carnets du Centre Chine (CNRS/EHESS). Consulté le 24 mars 2025 à l’adresse https://doi.org/10.58079/mfdr