October 14, 2016, by Franziska Koch

Conference: “The inexplicable and the unfathomable: China and Britain, 1600-1900”, 11-12 Nov. 2016, The Courtauld, London

The Courtauld Institue of Art, London, has recently announced the two-days conference “The Inexplicable and the Unfathomable: China and Britain, 1600-1900”

Dates:
18.00 – 19.15, Friday 11 November 2016 (with registration from 17:30)
10:15 – 18:00, Saturday 12 November 2016 (with registration from 09:45)
Venue:
Kenneth Clark Lecture Theatre, The Courtauld Institute of Art, Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 0RN
Organisers:
David Park (The Courtauld Institute of Art), Lars Tharp (Ceramics Historian, Curator and Broadcaster), and Frances Wood (Former Curator of Chinese Collections, The British Library)

Find the full programme for download and further information here: http://courtauld.ac.uk/event/inexplicable-unfathomable-china-britain-1600-1900

The ‘Chinese character seems at present inexplicable’, observed Lord Macartney during his celebrated embassy to China in the 1790s, while the Chinese themselves at this time often described ‘western ocean barbarians’ as ‘unfathomable’. The failure of Macartney’s embassy is well known, not least the Emperor Qianlong’s dismissive comment that ‘we possess all things. I set no value on objects strange or ingenious, and have no use for your country’s manufactures’.
A sense of bafflement might therefore overwhelm the present-day visitor to the Forbidden City, on encountering its glorious array of English clocks, many imported during Qianlong’s reign. The present conference will consider some of the endless misunderstandings and deliberate deceptions that characterised relations between Britain and China in the
four centuries under review, in fields as varied as religion and art, and commerce and literature. It will also explore, however, the burgeoning range of contacts between the two countries, and the increased mutual understanding achieved by two cultures separated by ‘the confines of many seas’.

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