SOAS, University of London (The School of Oriental and African Studies)

Antwerp in the Ming, the Ming in Antwerp

Abstract

This paper explores the process of knowledge formation about China in northern Europe in the early seventeenth century.  How was knowledge about remote places transmitted in early modern Europe, and what role did material goods play in this process?  The focus is on a Portuguese merchant based in Antwerp, and on the material and intellectual possessions in his household in 1617.  The porcelain he owned and the travel records in his library suggest he had access to the most up to date representations of the Chinese empire in circulation in Europe at the time.

Speaker Biography

Anne Gerritsen is Associate Professor of History at the University of Warwick and director of the Global History and Culture Centre.  Her research has focused on the history and material culture of Jiangxi Province in early modern China.  She is interested both in the ways in which local cultures and societies were produced and in the ways in which locally produced goods were transmitted throughout the early modern world.