The Matter of Color in Early Modern China

An innovative way to understand Chinese art through a fresh focus on color

An innovative way to understand Chinese art through a fresh focus on colorInk brushwork has long dominated studies of traditional Chinese painting, while the role of color remained in the shadows. In this book, Quincy Ngan shines a light on color, arguing that early modern China (ca. 1500–1900) witnessed a significant surge in the popularity of color across society, and created an environment that accentuated the communicative power of color from the sixteenth century onward. Ngan offers a close look at the extraordinary role of azurite blue as well as other pigments such as lapis lazuli, malachite, and smalt. He traces the vibrant use of pigments alongside the rise of modernity to place early modern China in conversation with global histories of color and highlights striking parallels with contemporaneous practices elsewhere in the world. Looking at artworks as well as cosmetics, drama, literature, medicine, and politics, Ngan moves beyond medium-specificity and challenges assumptions about color as both a material and a field of study. Major themes include:• The gendered associations with color in early modern China• The socioeconomic changes that affected the production and consumption of azurite• The association of the color blue with time, space, and immortality• The relationship of color to text