FIELD WORK
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STUDY OF HUMANITY
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Translating Borges: Transculturation and Appropriation
by Antonius Rhys
The short story, “The Gospel According to Mark,” by Jorge Luis Borges, first piqued my interest in analyzing how English and Spanish affect the way a story is received by the reader. I concluded that this story read quite differently in each language because of the cultural associations embedded in Spanish and because a portion of Borges’s style was lost in the English translation. The story takes place in Argentina, which shares a Hispanic heritage with Mexico, where I spent my early years. My personal experience significantly influenced the reading in its original language. The process inspired a second assessment of the same topic, for which I probed one of his more popular works: “The Garden of Forking Paths.”
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MATERIAL CULTURE STUDIES
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Scholars of the Late Ming & a Cup with Lin Hejing
By Céline Andre
Dating from the late Ming dynasty (approx. 1620 – 1644), this blue and white (qinghua, 清华) cup contains a cobalt-blue painting of a Song dynasty scholar and his crane (Figure 1). Due to its shape, clay quality, and design, it was most likely made during the reign of Emperor Tianqi (1621 – 1627) or Emperor Chongzhen (1628 – 1644). The most captivating feature of the cup lies in its figure painting of Lin Hejing—a reclusive scholar of the Northern Song (960 – 1126) period who was known to have two pet cranes. One may ponder the relevance of painting a Northern Song scholar like Lin Hejing on a late Ming qinghua cup. Like other respected figures represented in various forms of Chinese ceramics (i.e. The Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove or The Eight Immortals), the appearance of Lin Hejing on this qinghua cup represents the philosophical values of late Ming scholars towards the end of the dynasty. In this essay, I will aim to connect the outlook of Ming scholars and the challenges they experienced toward the end of the dynasty to the motif of Lin Hejing in the qinghua cup.
A Study of the Two Types of Yuteki Tenmoku in Japan
By Hitoshi Kobayashi The Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, Curatorial Department, Chief Curator
Japan is a world treasure trove of Tenmoku (black-glazed tea bowls) produced in China. These pieces have been handed down through many generations. Representative examples include three Yohen Tenmoku (iridescent Tenmoku) tea bowls—in the collection of the Seikado Bunko Art Museum, the Fujita Museum, and Ryōkō-in at the Daitoku-ji Temple—as well as the Yuteki Tenmoku (oil-spot Tenmoku) in the collection of the Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka and the Taihi Tenmoku (tortoiseshell Tenmoku) in the collection of Shōkokuji Temple. All these pieces are designated as national treasures.
New Discoveries Regarding the Important Cultural Property ‘Konoha Tenmoku’
by Hitoshi Kobayashi, translated by Hana Anderson
In Japan, a large number of Karamono Tenmoku (chawan) 唐物天目(茶碗) –Tenmoku tea bowls imported from China– have been passed down for generations as heirlooms. These include Youhen Tenmoku 曜変天目 (iridescent Tenmoku) and Yuteki Tenmoku 油滴天目 (oil-spot tenmoku), many of which are designated as national treasures or important cultural properties . One Yuteki Tenmoku designated as a national treasure is housed at the Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka and is the only Kenyou 建窯 (Jian kiln) Yuteki Tenmoku endowed with this distinction (Frontispiece 2). It is regarded as the finest masterpiece of heirloom Yuteki Tenmoku present in Japan.