000			03066cam a2200205 i 4500
020			_a9789819911608
020			_a978981991159
082	0	4	_a709.51
100	1		_aChen, Shanshan,
245	1	0	_aArt, science, and diplomacy : _ba study of the visual images of the Macartney Embassy to China, 1793 / _cShanshan Chen
264		1	_aSingapore : _bSpringer, _c2023
300			_a1 online resource (xxiv, 249 pages) : _billustrations (some color)
505	0		_aIntroduction to the Macartney Embassy to China -- The Historical, Artistic, and Scientific Contexts of the Embassy -- Gift Exchange -- The Diplomacy and Politics of the Imagery of the Reception -- Empirical Science and the Topographic Aesthetic -- Picturesque Landscapes -- The Sublime and the Chinese Ruins -- Images of Natural History -- Picturing Chinese People -- Representation of Chinese Science -- Publications of the Macartney Embassy -- Two Print Books and the Royal Pavilion at Brighton -- The Enduring Legacy of the Macartney Embassy
520			_aThis book examines how the Embassy members approached, selected, and represented information, and how, in doing so, they helped to shape European perceptions of China. The Macartney Embassy of 1793 was the first British diplomatic mission to China, seeking to open ties between the two empires. As part of the mission, the British government commissioned writers and artists to chronicle the geography and culture of a civilization that had, until then, been shrouded in mystery. A central focus of the book is the artwork itself, which provides a window into the diplomatic, artistic and scientific viewpoints underlying the mission. Drawing on archival research, the study recreates the processes through which the Embassy's draughtsmen, scientists, and diplomats collaborated to represent the visual images, and how the materials were reworked for publication in London. The finished product demonstrates that the artists offered a distinct viewpoint in the representation of China, sometimes differing from the textual accounts, by blending scientific elements and artistic aesthetics in order to demystify China and make it more knowable to a British audience. It was in the interposition of text and image that the British public formulated an ambivalent perception of China that embraced both admiration and disdain. In addition to the scholars, the book targets general readers who are interested in global art and history, and East-West interactions. It contains important images with detailed visual and historical analysis that enable readers to acquire knowledge on how the British represented China and how that image helped to shape the European perception of China during the British global expansion in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and beyond
650		0	_aArt objects
856	4	0	_uhttps://rave.ohiolink.edu/ebooks/ebc2/9789819911608
856	4	0	_uhttps://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-981-99-1160-8
856	4	0	_uhttps://go.ohiolink.edu/goto?url=https://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-981-99-1160-8
942			_2lcc _cBK
999			_c14187 _d14187