A social history of painting inscriptions in Ming China (1368-1644)

This thesis illuminates painting inscriptions written in the Ming dynasty (1368-164) in a social context, revealing that inscriptions as a particular genre of text richly encompass themes relevant but not confined to social history, material culture, early modern publishing, identity construction, and self-knowledge. This thesis argues that painting inscriptions written in the Ming era are not only the result of artistic concerns; on many occasions, the production, utilization, and circulation of inscriptions had social concerns, meanings, and influences. Inscriptions as such are rich of notions, attitudes and thoughts, which can be helpful to understand Ming artists and their world, as well as an important source for scholars to explore social and intellectual history of the Ming era.\nThis study, perhaps for the first time, brings two types of sources of inscriptions—existing paintings and textual anthologies—into the vision of academia. The two sources also represent two categories of inscriptions and their dual nature. Inscriptions are material objects with trajectories of circulation and dissemination; on the other hand, they are the texts of histories of reproduction and dissemination. The two categories of inscriptions are transmittable. A Ming painting is not a closed entity, but rather a dynamic entity.