International Symposium

Decentering the East Asian Mediterranean
Moving Artists, Artefacts, and Concepts

Venue: Conference Room, 2F. College of Liberal Arts, National Taiwan University

June 30-July 1, 2025

Korea-Japan-Ryukyu in the Edo Period from the Perspective of Watanabe Zen'emon

KIDO Hironari 木土博成

Associate Professor, Kyushu University.

Abstract

During the Edo period, an envoy from Korea, a foreign country, came to Japan to celebrate the replacement of the shogun. Similar envoys also came to Japan from Ryukyu, a foreign country that was subordinate to the Satsuma clan. There were Japanese who made detailed observations of these Korean and Ryukyuan envoys and recorded them in records and illustrations. This seminar will focus on Watanabe Zen’emon (1701–1761), a samurai of the Yodo clan (present-day Kyoto City), who possessed an excellent eye for observation. Together with experts in various fields, we would like to take a close look at his writings and drawings. By approaching the viewpoint of a person who lived in the Edo period, we will be able to see some aspects of the relationship between Japan and Korea and Ryukyu in the 18th century.

January 29, 2025 15:00

Huang Tu-shui (1895–1930) and His Era: The Beginnings of “Taiwanese Art” Under Imperial Japanese Rule

SUZUKI Eka 鈴木恵可

Assistant Research Fellow Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica.

Abstract

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January 9, 2025 17:00

Visualizing “Homeland”: The Development of Taiwanese Art during the Japanese Colonial Period

CHIU Hanni

Associate Professor, Graduate Institute of Art History, National Taiwan University.

Abstract

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December 2, 2024 17:00

Diplomatic Gifts and Cultural Exchanges: Sino-Korean Artistic Interactions in the Late Eighteenth Century

Seo Yoonjung

Associate Professor, Myongji University

Abstract

This study delves into the realms of diplomatic gifts between Joseon and Qing China in the late eighteenth century, uncovering the complexities of cross-cultural exchanges in East Asia. The research offers an overview of the diplomatic gifts traditionally circulated in East Asia and then narrows its focus to the sophisticated products emanating from the Qing imperial workshops, along with Sino-European objects bestowed upon Joseon envoys by Emperor Qianlong. Among these prized offerings were jade ruyi scepter, exquisite lacquerware, fine ceramics, luxurious silks, sumptuously woven textile, and volumes bearing imperial endorsement, as well as the emperor’s calligraphic pieces and poems, alongside copper-plate engravings reflecting European artistic sensibilities.

The scope of analysis is acutely attuned to the Joseon envoys dispatched in the late 1780s, providing a meticulous exploration of two notable print series that portray the Qing military campaigns known as the “Conquest of Western Regions” and the “Conquests of the Great and Lesser Jinchuan.” The investigation extends to probe several key aspects, including the role of Western-styled artifacts in Sino-Korean and broader East-West diplomatic engagements, the underlying principles governing the selection of these gifts, the occasion on which gifts were conferred upon foreign delegations, the profiles of the agents engaged in the exchange, and the ways in which these objects were esteemed and assimilated into the Joseon society. In its essence, this study attempts to examine the intersection among visual, material, and textual sources, elucidating the rich tapestry of diplomatic gift exchange practices and the resulting material culture as viewed through an intercultural lens. Thus, the research reveals a wide spectrum of interpretations pertaining to the semiotics of gifting, delineates the complex networks forged through the act of gifting, and assesses the nuanced political and economic significance within their distinct historical and geographic framework.

April 22, 2024 5:00pm

Angkor Wat as Gion Shōja: Japanese Mappings of Buddhist India in Maritime East Asia

D. Max Moerman

Professor, Barnard College/Columbia University

Abstract

In premodern Japan, Buddhist India was not confined to the South Asian subcontinent of contemporary geography. It represented a holy land of sacred origins rendered through the narratives of Chinese Buddhist pilgrims. With the arrival of Iberian traders and Jesuit missionaries and the expansion of maritime trade, however, this classical image of Buddhist India was radically transformed and transposed onto Southeast Asian landscapes. This talk examines sixteenth-century Jesuit letters, seventeenth-century maps of Jētavana, and eighteenth-century narratives which extended from popular encyclopedias to the print culture of the Kabuki stage to trace the shifting and capacious cartography of Buddhist India in the Japanese geographic imagination.

November 6, 2023