China in the Frame: Materialising Ideas of China in Italian Museums
Mechanisms of representation of the cultural Other and their connections with processes of self-expression constitute the core of China in the Frame. This original ethnographic study of Chinese-themed displays of artworks in a selection of permanent and temporary exhibitions in Italy highlights specific forms of the materialisation of ideas of cultural identities. The Other represented by these displays is China, the identity of which is nowadays perceived by a wider western public, if not unambiguously, at least more closely, thanks to faster and intensified means of communication and interaction. The representing counterpart is Italy, the identity of which, far from being firmly univocal, is fragmentary and not rigidly set due to the country’s peculiar socio-historical circumstances.
The wide range of case studies brought together in this book draw attention to the impact of physical and cultural settings, as well as of various exhibitive criteria and techniques, on different types of manifestations of ideas of China through the medium of museum display. Adopting an underlying theoretical framework whereby representation is a mimetic operation that creatively contributes to the transmission of awareness and knowledge of the Other, the book provides a re-evaluation of the concept of appropriation, emphasising how the recognition of a cultural Other can be instrumental in the determination of certain modes of self-expression. On this basis, the book also elaborates a suggestive definition of Italian Orientalism intended as a phenomenon by which while relating to and trying to represent China, Italy is induced to question and represent its own cultural identity.
Through an analysis of fieldwork data, the book identifies and navigates the long and rich history of many of the buildings housing the displays, the different ages of the specimens exhibited and the diversity of topics illustrated, spanning from the artistic and technical achievements of ancient China to the socio-economic changes of contemporary China. As representations are re-affirmed, developed and changed, the variety of materials included in the displays play a relevant part in bringing forth the comprehensive and overarching character of cultural representations in museum contexts.
With a solid background in Chinese language and culture, Iside Carbone graduated from Ca’ Foscari University, Venice, and further specialised in Chinese Art and Archaeology at Nankai University, Tianjin, and SOAS, University of London. She received a PhD in Anthropology at University College London in 2010. Her research interests and publications focus on museum ethnography, art and anthropology in general, and Chinese art in particular. She is Assistant Editor for the Anthropological Index Online, published by the Royal Anthropological Institute in cooperation with the Anthropology Library and Research Centre at the British Museum. She is also Asian Art Specialist for a regional auction house. She is Associate at the Centre for Museums, Heritage and Material Culture Studies, UCL, and a member of the Museum Ethnographers Group.
“This is a timely and comprehensive study of the various modes of representation of China in Italy. Similar studies have examined the reception and responses to China in France, England and the Americas, but this is the first to examine this phenomenon in Italy, which has a longer history of engagement with China and Chinese things than many other areas of Europe and the Western world. […] Through the thorough and considered analysis presented here, the reader can now appreciate both the significance of Italy in the history of the global distribution and consumption of Chinese things, as well as the importance of the history of display and its consequences. “
— Dr Stacey Pierson, SOAS, University of London
“Dr Carbone’s text combines both [a sociological and a cognitive approach] in a distinctive and innovative manner. She focuses on the historical role of the museum and, in particular, on the nature of permanent and temporary exhibitions. European identity since the early modern period has turned towards establishing itself through ‘taking the outside in’. […] Dr Carbone’s study of cinesrie in Italy focuses on both popular culture and commercial design questions of mass consumption as an emergent phenomenon, and the contexts by which emulation and imitation were used to create national and regional identities. How China was represented in different museum contexts in Italy, she shows, depends both on the environmental context and the expression of locality as well as creating a more general idea of Chinese style in different material forms. She has produced a unique study of how copying and emulation of the ‘Other’ was central to creating European identities. […] I cannot cite a parallel study that focuses on these questions in this way.”
— Michael Rowlands, Professor Emeritus in Material Culture and Anthropology, University College London
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