Francesco Sambiasi, a Missing Link in European Map Making in China?

Heirman, Ann; Troia, Paolo De; Parmentier, Jan

doi:10.1080/03085690802024158

Cited by 7 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 4 publications

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“…The world map of a certain Francesco Sambiasi (1582–1649; Chin. Bi Fangji 畢方濟), copies of which exist in the libraries of Ghent University and Turin, also draws on information from Matteo Ricci and Guilio Aleni and mentions the “balsam of Peru” [ 70 ].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Peruvian balsam”: an example of transoceanic transfer of medicinal knowledge

Schottenhammer

2020

J Ethnobiology Ethnomedicine

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Background Connections between China and the new Spanish colonies in America are known for an exchange of silver for silks and porcelains. That also medicinal drugs and medicinal knowledge crossed the Pacific Ocean is hardly known or discussed. Myroxylon balsamum (L.) Harms var. pereirae (Royle) Harms (“New World“ or “Peruvian balsam“) is a botanical balsam that has a long history of medicinal use, particularly as antiseptic and for wound healing. Except for a Chinese article discussing the reception of balsam in China and Japan, no scientific studies on its impact in China and Japan and the channels of transfer from the Americas to Asia exist. Methods Description: (1) This section provides a general introduction into Commiphora gileadensis (“Old World” balsam) as a medicinal category and discusses the specific medicinal properties of Myroxylon balsamum (L.) Harms var. pereirae (Royle) Harms. The section “Historical research and uses” provides a brief survey on some historical analyses of balsam. Aim, design, setting: (2) Applying a comparative textual and archaeological analysis the article critically examines Chinese and Japanese sources (texts, maps) to show (i) what Chinese and Japanese scholars knew about balsam, (ii) where and how it was used, and (iii) to identify reasons why the “digestion” of knowledge on balsam as a medicinal developed so differently in China and Japan. Results and discussion This chapter discusses the introduction of “Peruvian balsam” into, its uses as a medicinal as well as its scholarly reception in early modern China and Japan and introduces the channels of transmission from Spanish America to Asia. It is shown that Myroxylon balsamum (L.) Harms var. pereirae (Royle) Harms was partly a highly valued substance imported from the Americas into China and Japan. But the history of the reception of medicinal knowledge on Peruvian balsam was significantly different in China and Japan. Conclusions In Japan, the knowledge on Myroxylon balsamum was continuously updated, especially through mediation of Dutch physicians; Japanese scholars, doctors and pharmacists possessed a solid knowledge on this balsam, its origin and its medicinal uses. In China, on the contrary, there was no further “digestion” or development of the knowledge on either Myroxylon balsamum (L.) Harms var. pereirae (Royle) Harms or Commiphora gileadensis. By the late nineteenth century, related medicinal and even geographic knowledge had mostly been lost. The interest in “balsam” in late Qing scholarship was pure encyclopaedic and philosophic.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Peruvian balsam”: an example of transoceanic transfer of medicinal knowledge

Schottenhammer

2020

J Ethnobiology Ethnomedicine

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Displacing China: The Martini-BlaeuNovus Atlas Sinensisand the Late Renaissance Shift in Representations of East Asia

Cams

2020

Renaiss. Q.

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In the mid-seventeenth century, as the first full atlas of East Asia became available on the European book market, a dramatic shift took place in textual and visual representations of the Far East. The atlas, titled “Novus Atlas Sinensis” (1655), was the product of a cooperation between Joan Blaeu, who headed one of Europe's foremost commercial publishing houses, and Martino Martini, a prominent Jesuit missionary to China. This study shows how the Martini-Blaeu atlas thoroughly challenged the worldview of late Renaissance audiences by tracing and reconstructing a series of displacements that facilitated its production process.

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Companions in Geography

Cams¹

2017

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Francesco Sambiasi, a Missing Link in European Map Making in China?

Cited by 7 publications

References 4 publications

“Peruvian balsam”: an example of transoceanic transfer of medicinal knowledge

“Peruvian balsam”: an example of transoceanic transfer of medicinal knowledge

Displacing China: The Martini-BlaeuNovus Atlas Sinensisand the Late Renaissance Shift in Representations of East Asia

Companions in Geography

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