Technical Treatises Research Articles

Monographs in Tang Official Historiography: Perspectives from the Technical Treatises of the History of Sui (Sui Shu), edited by Daniel Patrick Morgan and Damien Chaussende

Monographs in Tang Official Historiography: Perspectives from the Technical Treatises of the History of Sui (Sui Shu), edited by Daniel Patrick Morgan and Damien Chaussende

Editing Technical Texts

Abstract Some issues regarding editorial techniques and stemmatic theory are raised and discussed by using the textual tradition of Greek and Byzantine technical treatises as sources for examples and case-studies. I shall show that the stemmatic method is both perfectly sound and elastic enough to be able to cope with most textual traditions of technical texts.

Charcoal or black stone? Reconstructions as a tool to study the behaviour of dry underdrawing materials within the paint structure of sixteenth century panel paintings

Reconstructions were used as a tool to investigate the use of charcoal and black stone as underdrawing materials in sixteenth century panel paintings with white or off-white preparatory layers. Research was based on the examination of a group of sixteenth century panel paintings by the Portuguese Mannerist painter Francisco João (doc. 1558–1595) and his workshop. Analysis of the original underdrawing material in cross-sections, using microscopic and spectroscopic techniques was not always conclusive. Based on materials thought to be employed by Francisco João and on data collected from sixteenth and seventeenth century European technical treatises along with published analytical studies of panel paintings with white or off-white preparatory layers from this period, reconstructions were performed using charcoal (untreated and oiled—as described in contemporary literature) and natural black stone over different preparatory surfaces. Microscopic analyses of cross-sections from reconstructions were made to assist the discussion of the behaviour of the dry underdrawing media within the paint structure. Results revealed that whereas charcoal could be easily removed if drawn directly over gesso, it would remain fixed when drawn over a ground treated with an oil-based intermediate layer, even when the latter was completely dry to the touch. The persistence of a charcoal drawing when applied over oil challenged the widely disseminated assumption that naturally occurring black stone, which makes a permanent mark, had been employed more frequently than charcoal since the latter appeared to be easily disturbed and hence transitory. The very lengthy curing time for a drying oil could be responsible for fixing the friable media. Reconstructions further showed that oiled charcoal is easily prepared and agreeable to use on any type of surface, where it remains without smudging. Finally, research suggests that the painter’s choice of underdrawing material is closely dependent on the nature of the binder of intermediate layers and on the position of the underdrawing layout within the paint structure.

From the Chair

From the Chair

Quels apprentissages peut-on lire dans les traités de peinture médiévaux ?

Les traités techniques de peinture sont riches d’enseignement, que ce soit pour apprendre à fabriquer les couleurs que pour apprendre à dessiner. Nous avons essayé de dresser le portrait de l’apprenti, dans sa relation avec son maître. Et ce, que ce soit par le comportement du premier ou les dons du second. Quant au dessin, diverses techniques sont utilisées selon le stade d’apprentissage où en est l’élève. Des simples traits droits, en passant par la copie de maître, à la technique de l’encre au pinceau ou de traits à la plume, il faut dessiner tous les jours pour s’améliorer.

Vigencia de las estrategias constructivas originales para la conservación de los entramados estructurales de madera, a través del ejemplo de un edificio madrileño del S. XIX

La mayoría de las ciudades europeas y españolas, particularmente Madrid, conservan un importante patrimonio residencial del S. XIX, son edificios con estructura mixta de entramado de madera y fábrica de albañilería. Muchos se están rehabilitando para adecuarlos a las exigencias actuales de uso, y al CTE en el caso español. Investigar los conocimientos contenidos en los tratados técnicos de los S. XVIII y S. XIX, en cuanto a las soluciones constructivas que procuran una edificación durable, permite buscar soluciones de rehabilitación compatibles con las tecnologías originales y con las exigencias básicas del CTE. En este artículo, mediante el estudio de un edificio madrileño como ejemplo paradigmático, se comparan las soluciones constructivas originales típicas de su época con las recomendadas en los tratado técnicos coetáneos, y se confirma la hipótesis de que las técnicas tradicionales son eficaces como protección pasiva frente a patología por xilófagos.

The uses of useful knowledge and the languages of vernacular science: Perspectives from southwest India.

In the first half of the eleventh century, a group of scholars in southwest India did something new. They began composing systematic texts about everyday life in a register of language sometimes called New Kannada. While looking back toward earlier texts composed in Sanskrit - and even translating portions of them - these scholars centered their poetic ability and their personal experiences as opposed to prior authoritative texts. They described themselves as authoring "worldly sciences" that were "useful to the people of the world," and they provided extensive reflections on the systematics of knowledge. Epistemic, linguistic, and political concerns were significantly renegotiated in this moment as local context was turned into a virtue for the production of technical treatises. This article uses this moment to interrogate recent discussions of useful knowledge and vernacular science. Usefulness can mean different things at different times and vernacular sciences change according to their language. This article argues for a usage of both terms that is more attuned to historical particulars. A history of useful knowledge from a place that now appears under the double effacement of the non-modern and non-West offers an opportunity to think through central concepts of the history of science without relying on economic or utilitarian discourses. This paper presents one possible example of what a more global history of useful knowledge might look like.

Coloring the World: Some Thoughts from Jain and Buddhist Narratives

This paper begins with an examination of early Indian speculation about colors, their number, their use, and their significance. It ranges widely from the Upaniṣads to the Nāṭyaśāstra, from Śvetāmbara Jain canonical texts to Buddhaghosa’s treatise on meditation, the Visuddhimagga, from purāṇas to technical treatises on painting. It turns then to examine how select Jain and Buddhist texts used color in two important scenarios, descriptions of the setting for events and the person of the Jina/Buddha. In the concluding reflections, I compare textual practices with a few examples from the visual record to ask what role if any the colors specified in a story might have played in the choices made by an artist.

The use of glass particles and its consequences in late 16th century oil painting: A Portuguese case based on the analytical results and the technical treatises

Abstract Colourless glass particles were identified for the first time in Portuguese paintings in two altarpieces attributed to the painter Francisco Joao, active between 1558 and 1595. They were found in red glazes with conservation problems. The glass was analysed by SEM-EDX and the binder by μ-FTIR. Portuguese 17th century painting treatises, which record earlier practices, were examined providing additional information. The glass particles had a vegetable silica-soda-lime composition, different in the two altarpieces, and a medium to very high alumina content. Although the provenance of the glass could not be determined, the use of local glass is suggested, as archaeological glass of the same period and similar composition has been found in southern Europe, notably Portugal. Furthermore, the glass from one of the altarpieces closely matches the composition of glass found in a painting by the Spaniard Luis de Morales. As a result, it is possible that the painter deliberately added a local glass to his red lakes, as advised in the two Portuguese painting treatises of this period. The exclusive presence of glass in the uppermost medium-rich glazes suggests that it was mainly used for its transparency and assumed siccative role. Although the siccative properties of glass have not been proved, by lowering the oil concentration in the paint, the addition of glass might have indirectly assisted the drying of the glazes. The glass particles were subject to a severe leaching of the alkali, a degradation that might explain the disruption of the glaze layers in these paintings.

Fire assay and cupellation at the late medieval Porto Mint, Portugal: a technological study

Fire assay by cupellation is an early form of quantitative chemical analysis that required the use of specialized vessels typically made with ashes. Its use became particularly prominent in Europe since the Middle Ages, as reflected in technical treatises and archaeological remains that record a variety of recipes for their manufacture and use. Here we present chemical and microstructural analyses of cupels from the Porto Mint in Portugal, recovered from two distinct contexts spanning from the 14th to the 16th century CE. Based on the data, we argue that one set of cupels was likely used for the analysis of bulk metals as they entered the mint, while the other was used for the assay of bullion coins for quality control. We also show that most cupels were made of a mixture of bone ash and wood ash. In addition, our work illustrates strategies to identify and study severely corroded cupels. We recommend further studies of cupellation contexts, which will allow us to map knowledge transfer and technological traditions in this crucial strand of early science.

Vasari in Renaissance Straßburg

This article addresses the reception of the Vite in late-Renaissance Straßburg, examining how authors and artists in the circle of poet and satirist Johann Fischart (1546/47–c. 1590) and publisher-cum-woodcut carver Bernhard Jobin (before 1545–1593) responded to the book’s theories of art history and its evaluations of northern art and architecture. Though historians have long scrutinised the responses to Vasari embedded in the preface to the Accuratae effigies (1573), a text published by Jobin and attributed to Fischart, the reception of the Vite in sixteenth-century Straßburg proves more extensive and more nuanced than existing research on the preamble might indicate. In fact, a community of Straßburg residents associated with Jobin and Fischart, including Tobias Stimmer, Daniel Specklin, Conrad Dasypodius and Nikolaus von Reusner, produced a corpus of works that engaged with Vasari on questions of style, invention and canon. Reacting to the Vite through a chronicle of Rhineland building, technical treatises, architectural prints, and illustrated compendia of biographies and portraits, the Straßburg circle of Fischart and Jobin used heterogenous textual and visual genres to promote alternatives to the Vite’s narrative form and to revise its art historical account in projects that shaped early writing on art across the German-speaking realm. In light of their work, I contend, the reception of the Vite in sixteenth-century northern Europe now also appears more sympathetic to Vasari than has previously been argued. For Straßburg authors did not only contest Vasarian ideas—they also integrated Vasarian thinking within the emergent traditions of art history and art criticism in the German-speaking lands in ways that could alter our understanding of how concepts of style, invention, and canon operated in early modern German art theory.

The Strange Afterlife of Vidyāpati Ṭhākura (ca. 1350–1450 CE): Anthological Manuscripts, Linguistic Confusion, and Religious Appropriation

This article examines the difficult aspects of working with anthological manuscripts and printed editions of lyrical vernacular poetry in South Asia by focusing on the textual reception of Vidyāpati Ṭhākura. In his own life, Vidyāpati wrote technical treatises in Sanskrit, historical narratives in Apabhraṃśa, and a corpus of lyrical poems (padas) and two dramas in the vernacular Maithili language. While his technical works remained relatively static and limited in their circulation, Vidyāpati's lyrical poems had a more enduring and geographically widespread effect on the languages, literatures, and religions of Mithilā and Eastern India (Bengal, Orissa, and Assam). The anthologies of padas, usually called "padāvalī's", whatever their historical manifestation or locality, were usually collections of disconnected padas without contextual narratives or explanations.

Dōng 東 ‘East’ and the Chinese “Indian Circle”


 
 
 The Chinese character ⟨東⟩, writing a word meaning ‘east’, is shown here to have arisen in connection with the use of the vertical gnomon in the determination of cardinal direction. The simple geometric procedure involved—by Al-Bīrūnī (973–1048) termed the “Indian Circle”—is attested across a number of other early cultural contexts, and has a Chinese history traceable from classical-era technical treatises such as the “Kǎogōng jì” 考工記 to sixth-century commentary to the mathematical text Shùshù jìyí 數術記遺 . Evidence offered below constitutes the first direct indication for such a practice in second-millennium BCE China .
 
 

A perceção dos jesuítas no mundo português: entre o trato de e o gosto por orientalia (sécs. XVI-XVII)

The Jesuits became reputed commissioners of orientalia , during the 16th and the 17th centuries. Their commission of orientalia included exotica , rarita , and naturalia . Due to the fact that they were members of a religious order, a considerable part of orientalia had a religious character. At least, at the beginning, those objects were destined mainly to the liturgy in the missions. Nevertheless, the Jesuits quickly developed an exquisite collectionism taste of those objects and as traders. Among the orientalia that arose the greater interest among the Jesuits, reference shall be made to Japanese silk and silver transported by the Nau do Trato, Indian rarita , such as jewellery and ivory sculpture, and also naturalia and exotica , such as pearls and bezoar stones. The Jesuits moreover joined immediately the interest for Chinese porcelain and lacquerware. The Jesuits were fundamental agents from a technical viewpoint. They are credited with the creation of the Goa stones and the introduction of the Cassius purple . Jesuit authors further wrote important technical treatises. The trade and collectionism of orientalia by the Jesuits were often excessive. However, the repetition of the interdictions by both the General Claudio Acquaviva and the General Everardo Mercuriano clearly illustrates the incapacity of the authorities to put an end to inappropriate practices to religious men of owning luxurious objects and fomenting the taste for luxury, through the offer of orientalia .

Italian technical literature in the field of architectural restoration: The case study of the Historic Memories about the Vatican Church by Giovanni Poleni

This paper provides a theoretical, methodological, and practical contribution to the debate about strategies for the divulgation of the Italian technical literature of the eighteenth century in English-speaking countries with attention to the Italian universities and cultural institutions of the time. The paper contains a survey of the historical bibliography of contemporary translations of non-technical treatises of architecture in the English language and it proceeds to draw up a set of guidelines (decalogue) of different recently proposed methodologies and strategies. It describes the selection of the treatise to translate, relevant to the context and authoritative knowledge in the European scientific background of the eighteenth century; it continues by proposing a synopsis of the original text in the Italian modern language, a strategy used in order to make historical technical treatises accessible to the contemporary scientific Italian language. Approaches and strategies are experimented with in the case study of Historic Memories about the Great Dome of the Vatican Church (Le Memorie Istoriche della Gran Cupola Vaticana) by Giovanni Poleni, one of the most authoritative scholars of eighteenth-century Europe.

Where Does “Axial Breakthrough” Take Place? In the Past, or in Present Narratives of the Past?

This article focuses on Vernant s thesis, masterfully developed in Les origines de la pensee grecque (1962) and translated into English in 1982. Vernant explained that between the 7th and the 2nd century BCE, one can note crucial modifications of the traditional and religious atmosphere, in civilizations as distant as China, India, Persia, Palestine and Greece. These turning points brought Confucianism, Buddhism, Zoroastrism, Prophetism, and, in Greece, Search for Truth. For historians, who claim their expertise on the past, methodological issues are at stake in this inquiry about an axial age or an axial breakthrough . First, there is the epistemological question of historiography, a present narrative of the past that cannot, from a scientific point of view – that of the historians –, erase varieties of past narratives (poetics, technical treatises, epigraphic decrees, vase paintings, etc.). Then, there is the new understanding of the constant interaction of what we call the political sphere with what we call the religious sphere, insofar as the distinction between a strictly political sphere, separate from the religious sphere, is now fully challenged. Finally, the polis as we understand it nowadays includes women s acts, as feminist scholarship has demonstrated through the past 35 years. This new depiction makes the citizens different: they can no longer be thought of as all the same and interchangeable.

How do Writings in the Early Astral Sciences Reveal Mathematical Practices and Practitioners?

Predicting eclipses and planetary phenomena has always been a desideratum for the astral sciences,. Indeed, we might say that it was largely by inventing mathematical procedures for these tasks that sky watchers became astral scientists. When sources have been preserved that allow us to observe these procedures, we can often learn not only about early astronomical assumptions but also about the mathematical practices of the astronomers. Such practices might include the design of metrologies and units, types of numbers and their arithmetics (e.g., fractions, sexagesimals), computational techniques, or the use of accessories such as diagrams, instruments, or numerical tables. Consider, for example, the case of the armillary sphere, for centuries an emblem of mathematical astronomy. A great diversity of ancient and medieval sources describe this device and its uses. For example, official Chinese inventories of the holdings of particular astronomical institutions may discuss different kinds of ancient armillary spheres and their uses. Spheres can be described in versified Sanskrit treatises with commentaries, describing step-by-step the construction of the instrument and defining the astronomical meanings of its parts. Or advanced technical treatises may explore intricate cosmological and mathematical questions. Such a variety of sources can reveal a corresponding variety of mathematical practices linked to the armillary spheres and thus may constitute a methodological challenge for the historian seeking to understand the mathematical, astronomical or cultural significance of this instrument. Similarly, early astronomers were often confronted by the management of long, complex computations, performed individually or collectively, with serious political and social consequences in case of perceived mistakes or inaccuracies. Again, a great variety of computational practices are attested in the sources. For instance, manuscripts assembled over a few years by John Westwyk, a 14th-century monk at the St Albans monastery and Tynemouth priory shows its owner learning mathematical astronomy through the compilation of various tables and instruments that he progressively adapted for his own purposes and computational habits. A much more institutionalized type of source, addressing the same kind of issues, is the 'template table' of Ming China, a printed sheet offering a grid with blank spaces for writing in numbers. Officially prepared by the Astronomical Bureau, the templates were designed to record intermediate results of an eclipse calculation. Textual labels on the rows and columns guide the user at each step of the computation. Here we find a writing support that normalizes mathematical practices, removes uncertainty or variation, and presumably would allow less experienced practitioners to compute eclipses even if they did not understand the 'meaning' of the algorithmic steps. The Bureau's template sheets, like the manuscript of John Westwyk, enable us to explore mathematical practices, to learn more than we would simply by considering the 'theories' of the astral sciences. All of these instances as well as others are analyzed in this collection of papers.

A diagnostic study on folium and orchil dyes with non-invasive and micro-destructive methods

Folium and orchil are dyes of vegetal origin. Folium is obtained from Chrozophora tinctoria (L.) A. Juss., whereas orchil is obtained from Roccella and other genera of lichens. These dyes were used in the past to impart purple hue to paintings and textiles as substitutes for the more prised Tyrian purple dye, obtained from shellfish. Despite several citations in ancient technical treatises dating back at least to the Greek-Roman age, the identification of these dyes in artworks is rare. In the case of folium, an additional drawback is that its composition is presently unknown.In this work different non-invasive (FT-IR, FT-Raman, fibre optic reflectance spectrophotometry, spectrofluorimetry, X-ray fluorescence spectrometry) and micro-invasive (surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy, matrix assisted laser desorption ionisation-time of flight-mass spectrometry, inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry) techniques were used in order to increase the diagnostic information available on these dyes. Measurements were carried out on the dyes extracted from raw materials and on painted or dyed parchments. The possibility to distinguish between folium and orchil by chemical analysis is discussed.

Characterisation of colourants on illuminated manuscripts by portable fibre optic UV-visible-NIR reflectance spectrophotometry

The use of ultraviolet and visible diffuse reflectance spectrophotometry as a preliminary technique in the investigation of illuminated manuscripts is discussed. Because ancient manuscripts are amongst the most fragile and precious artworks, characterisation of the materials used in their decoration should be performed using non-invasive analytical methods. Ultraviolet and visible reflectance spectrophotometry with optical fibres (FORS) allows non-invasive identification of several colourants used by ancient illuminators, causing no damage or mechanical stress to the artworks subjected to analysis. Identification is usually based on the comparison of analytical data with a spectral database built from painted areas on parchment, created by preparing paints according to ancient recipes as described in medieval technical treatises. Such database and the spectral features of the colourants analysed are discussed, along with the benefits of extending the spectral range of analysis into the shortwave infrared (to 2500 nm). FORS can be best appreciated as a rapid preliminary tool that offers an overview on the main colourants employed and guides the selection of painted areas of manuscripts on which more selective techniques, such as X-ray fluorescence or Raman spectroscopy, can be employed for a more complete and accurate identification.

Oculi Carnis, Oculi Mentis: Why Seeing Is Not Believing In Capgrave's Life of St. Katherine

This article explores Capgrave’s interest in the nature of visual phenomena as revealed in his Life of St Katharine. Noting that much previous scholarship locates this text in the context of late-medieval Lollard anti-image polemic, the article offers an alternative reading, establishing Capgrave’s interest in a broader intellectual context. The importance of Augustine’s theory of signs and his tripartite schema of physical, spiritual and intellectual vision to Capgrave’s work is demonstrated, as are medieval technical treatises concerned with the physiology of perception. Through a close reading of Book Three of the Life of St Katherine, the article argues that Capgrave uses his text to examine the problems inherent in human visual perception, specifically in relation to encounters with the divine, which highlight the human tendency to rely on the oculi carnis rather than the oculi mentis. It concludes that the Christian message of the text, with its focus on the development of the use of the oculi mentis, is complicated to transmit and difficult to follow, but that Capgrave’s enthusiasm for the nexus of ideas focused on the visual relishes this complexity and the intellectual challenges it presents.