China on Paper: European and Chinese Works from the Late Sixteenth to the Early Nineteenth Century

Although Chinese and European contact began as early as the first century A.D., only with the opening of sea routes in the 17th century did a reciprocal curiosity between the two civilizations prompt an interchange of ideas and images. Christian missionaries and scientific ideas traveled east; Confucian ideas traveled west, creating a fruitful and respectful collaboration. Jesuits corrected the Chinese calendar and used scientific works to prove the superiority not only of Western science but of the Christian God. As noted by Reed, head of collection development at the Getty Research Institute's library, and DeMatte, associate professor of Chinese art at RISD, most Europeans and Chinese received impressions of each other indirectly through books and imported objects and images, such as those included here, though, as one contributor writes, the results often ""escaped the intentions of their originators."" The intermingling of cultures is exemplified in 20 engravings by a Chinese artist of European buildings commissioned by the Chinese emperor in 1783. The book accompanies an exhibition of 37 illustrated books, prints and maps opening at the Getty Museum in November. As one expects from a Getty publication, the scholarship is thorough and the reproductions are impeccable. 35 color, 66 b&w illus.