In 1793, the Qing scholar, Ji Yun (1724 - 1805) commented on the vagaries of price and of supply and demand for luxurious and exotic products:
The value of things is dependent on the fashion of their time and [hence cannot be] fixed. [I] recall when I was young, ginseng, coral and lapis lazuli were not expensive, [but] today [they are] increasingly so; turquoise and tourmaline were extremely expensive, [but] today [their prices are] increasingly reduce.
From the mid-nineteenth century, Pacific corals, Corallium japonica and other species, began to be harvested in the Pacific Ocean off Japan in large quantity, leading to a broadening of uses for Pacific red, pink and white coral and to an apparent loosening of imperial control.
Natural …show more content…
In her essay ‘The Colour of Things’, social scientist, Diana Young, discusses the various ways in which previous colour studies have approached the subject - from the scientific, through language and perception, to the symbolic. Anthropologist, Alfred Gell, with his ideas about agency, influenced Young, who proposes a cultural examination of colour through materiality. Young suggests ways in which colour and materiality may be studied. She advocates that asking what coloured materials do in social practice, helps to shine fresh light on the role of materiality and colour in culture. She argues that colours are active, that they have agency and do things within objects; colours distinguish, they are used as analogies, they transform and they are also used dialogically, in combinations within colour relationships. Patricia Bjaaland Welch concurs: ‘Colors in Chinese art and design are not used haphazardly, but rather signal or convey a variety of meanings from messages concerning status, virtue, fortune and personality, to …show more content…
At the same time, colour and colour perceptions are social constructs. It is well known that the colour red has a particularly powerful agency in Chinese culture. The concept of red carries with it ancient and long-established connections to blood, fertility and joyful celebration. Red, hong, has particularly potent associations with Chinese New Year - the Spring Festival - which celebrates the start of a new cycle of renewal and rejoicing. In ancient times, fresh red lamb’s blood was daubed onto the door frames of Chinese homes to celebrate the coming New Year. Over time, it seems that the fresh blood’s positive, life-sustaining associations were transferred from the materiality of blood onto the concept of red. In other words, the agency of blood transformed into the concept of its colour. Red paper or cloth hangings and banners therefore represent a much earlier custom. Once the agency attached to actual blood, moved from the material (i.e. red fluid), to the concept (red colour), it was then possible for various ‘bloody associations’ - apotropaic protection, joyfulness, fertility etc - to be attached to a range of red-coloured materials, such as silks, paper, ink or firecrackers. Additionally, once red had become a potent concept independent of blood, then other red-coloured objects and flowers would be
The value of things is dependent on the fashion of their time and [hence cannot be] fixed. [I] recall when I was young, ginseng, coral and lapis lazuli were not expensive, [but] today [they are] increasingly so; turquoise and tourmaline were extremely expensive, [but] today [their prices are] increasingly reduce.
From the mid-nineteenth century, Pacific corals, Corallium japonica and other species, began to be harvested in the Pacific Ocean off Japan in large quantity, leading to a broadening of uses for Pacific red, pink and white coral and to an apparent loosening of imperial control.
Natural …show more content…
In her essay ‘The Colour of Things’, social scientist, Diana Young, discusses the various ways in which previous colour studies have approached the subject - from the scientific, through language and perception, to the symbolic. Anthropologist, Alfred Gell, with his ideas about agency, influenced Young, who proposes a cultural examination of colour through materiality. Young suggests ways in which colour and materiality may be studied. She advocates that asking what coloured materials do in social practice, helps to shine fresh light on the role of materiality and colour in culture. She argues that colours are active, that they have agency and do things within objects; colours distinguish, they are used as analogies, they transform and they are also used dialogically, in combinations within colour relationships. Patricia Bjaaland Welch concurs: ‘Colors in Chinese art and design are not used haphazardly, but rather signal or convey a variety of meanings from messages concerning status, virtue, fortune and personality, to …show more content…
At the same time, colour and colour perceptions are social constructs. It is well known that the colour red has a particularly powerful agency in Chinese culture. The concept of red carries with it ancient and long-established connections to blood, fertility and joyful celebration. Red, hong, has particularly potent associations with Chinese New Year - the Spring Festival - which celebrates the start of a new cycle of renewal and rejoicing. In ancient times, fresh red lamb’s blood was daubed onto the door frames of Chinese homes to celebrate the coming New Year. Over time, it seems that the fresh blood’s positive, life-sustaining associations were transferred from the materiality of blood onto the concept of red. In other words, the agency of blood transformed into the concept of its colour. Red paper or cloth hangings and banners therefore represent a much earlier custom. Once the agency attached to actual blood, moved from the material (i.e. red fluid), to the concept (red colour), it was then possible for various ‘bloody associations’ - apotropaic protection, joyfulness, fertility etc - to be attached to a range of red-coloured materials, such as silks, paper, ink or firecrackers. Additionally, once red had become a potent concept independent of blood, then other red-coloured objects and flowers would be