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HIST 347: The Mongol Empire (HC): Visual Sources

History 347: The Mongol Empire (Smith) Spring 2013

Visual Resources

Journal Articles in Art History

To find journal articles about art history topics, use Art Index as well as the  multi-disciplinary databases, JSTOR and Proquest Research Library.

Examples of journal articles fromArt Index that combine historical issues with art include:

Yuan Ceramics: The Arts Under the Mongols. Hjni Elias.  Arts of Asia; November/December 2006, Vol. 36 Issue 6, p80-93, 14p

Abstract:  The development of ceramics production under Mongol rule in China during the Yuan dynasty (1272–1370) is examined. Following a brief history of the Mongols and a discussion of Mongol social and economic policies in China, the writer traces the development of the arts in general and of celadon wares in particular. She considers key influences in the development of ceramic production on the basis of the account of the 1322 edition of the Tao zhi luo, a report by local official Jiang Qi that documents the ceramic industry and porcelain manufacture at Jingdezhen, Jangxi Province. She also examines the development of Qingbai Buddhist figures in impressive large sizes, and the production of blue-and-white wares. She concludes with a brief discussion of the Mongols' legacy in China.

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Gender and Empire: A View from Yuan China. Beverly Bossler.  Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies; Winter2004, Vol. 34 Issue 1, p197-223, 27p

Abstract: Part of a special issue on gender and empire in the early medieval world. The writer explores how “empire” affected gender constructs in China, focusing on the experiences of the Chinese themselves during periods when the empire was under non-Han rule as well as on the experiences of those colonized by the Chinese empire. Although she considers the 12th to the 14th centuries in China under the rubric of “medieval,” she uses the term as no more than a convenient designation, borrowed from European history, to a rather vaguely defined time period. She examines the gendered response of the Chinese during a period of “foreign” domination in China, from roughly 1127 to 1368. In particular, she focuses on how the threat and, eventually, the fact of conquest of the Chinese heartland by the Mongols conditioned Han cultural ideals for male and female behavior.

Portraits

                                         Genghis Khan    [Wikimedia Commons]

                                    Yuan Dynasty, Album leaf, ink and colors on silk


                                  Chabi, wife of  Khubilai Khan  [Wikimedia Commons]

                                     Yuan Dynasty, Album leaf, ink and colors on silk