Cultural transfer from China to Europe : the scientific illustrations of Michal Boym (1612-1659)

Abstract

This dissertation investigates the botanical, zoological, geographical and medical images of China, in the works of Jesuit missionary Michael Boym. Boym played a significant role in transmitting knowledge of China to Europe in the 17th century alongside confrères such as Martino Martini (1614-1661) and Adam Schall von Bell (1591-1666). Boym’s interest was wide, spanning botany, zoology, medicine and geography. This study's main goal is the new perspective to the studies of Boym himself, by reconsidering his images from the standpoint of art history. Boym’s life and the works have long attracted the attention of scholars interested in Jesuit history, or in the complex cultural, economic or scientific relationships and exchanges between Europe and China; however, his figure and his achievements had not been studied by art historians. The pictorial descriptions in Boym’s works appeal to us for their complexity and hybridity, and also for the intricately layered behind-the-scenes production that merged the European and Chinese realms of scientific knowledge of that time. Although there are several studies on Boym by historians of missions, of Polish Jesuits, and of natural science, art historians have hardly mentioned him. The images by which he transmitted his knowledge about China are detailed and accurate compared to similar images of that time, and he labels the plants in Chinese characters with phonetic transcriptions and in Latin. His choices and methods represent the changing approach to study nature in early modernity. I use the neutral term of early modernity to refer to the ‘500 to the ‘800 that in China refers to the late Ming and early Ching dynasty. Although some of his works remained manuscripts, Boym’s long influence is clear from later books whose writers quote him or use his material, albeit often without credit. Although Boym’s medical images are directed towards the scientific audience of physicians, diagnosing, and treating illness – including by Chinese pulse diagnosis – was also of widespread general interest. Boym’s images show us how Chinese medicine, flora and fauna played into the emergence of modern European medicine and natural history at a key phase in their formation. The research demonstrates Boym’s modus operandi of collecting pre-existing images and inserting them into his various books. His image-making process is thus complex, especially considering that his overall task is to translate these images from one culture to another. Throughout this translation process, things get lost, added, or changed. Michael Baxandall’s theory of the period eye, and Lorraine Daston and Peter Galison’s notion of achieving truth-to-nature, offer frameworks through which to consider Michael Boym’s natural history images and image-making practice. These frameworks allow a better understanding of Boym’s works in both technical and epistemic terms. In return, Boym’s situation – as an individual between cultures – offers a test case for both period eye and truth-to-nature, leading to promising directions for future research.