Gems in the Early Modern World: Materials, Knowledge and Global Trade, 1450–1800 (Europe's Asian Centuries)

This edited collection is an interdisciplinary study of gems in the early modern world. It examines the relations between the art, science, and technology of gems, and it does so against the backdrop of an expanding global trade in gems. The eleven chapters are organised into three parts. The first part sets the scene by describing how gems moved around the early modern world, how they were set in motion, and how they were pulled together in the course of their travels. The second part is about value. It asks why people valued gems, how they determined the value of a given gem, and how the value of a gem was connected to its perceived place of origin. The third part deals with the skills involved in cutting, polishing, and mounting gems, and how these skills were transmitted and articulated by artisans. The common themes of all these chapters are materials, knowledge and global trade. The contributors to this volume focus on the material properties of gems such as their weight and hardness, on the knowledge involved in exchanging them and valuing them, and on the cultural consequences of the expanding trade in gems in Eurasia and the Americas.-- Provided by publisher Front Matter ....Pages i-xvii Introduction: Gems in the Early Modern World (Michael Bycroft, Sven Dupré)....Pages 1-32 Front Matter ....Pages 33-33 The Plundering of the Ceylonese Royal Treasury, 1551–1553: Its Character, Cost, and Dispersal (Hugo Miguel Crespo)....Pages 35-64 Diamond-Studded Paths: Lines of Communication and the Trading Network of the Hellemans Family, Jewellers from Antwerp (Christina M. Anderson)....Pages 65-86 The Impact of European Trade with Southeast Asia on the Mineralogical Studies of Robert Boyle (Claire Sabel)....Pages 87-116 Front Matter ....Pages 117-117 Branches and Bones: The Transformative Matter of Coral in Ming Dynasty China (Anna Grasskamp)....Pages 119-147 Boethius de Boodt and the Emergence of the Oriental/Occidental Distinction in European Mineralogy (Michael Bycroft)....Pages 149-172 Good and Bad Diamonds in Seventeenth-Century Europe (Marcia Pointon)....Pages 173-195 The Repudiation and Persistence of Lapidary Medicine in Eighteenth-Century Dutch Medicine and Pharmacy (Marieke Hendriksen)....Pages 197-220 Front Matter ....Pages 221-221 Polito et Claro: The Art and Knowledge of Polishing, 1100–1500 (Marjolijn Bol)....Pages 223-257 Mughal Lapidaries and the Inherited Modes of Production (Taylor L. Viens)....Pages 259-279 Knowledge, Technique, and Taste in Transit: Diamond Polishing in Europe, 1500–1800 (Karin Hofmeester)....Pages 281-308 Gems and Counterfeited Gems in Early Modern Antwerp: From Workshops to Collections (Marlise Rijks)....Pages 309-342 Back Matter ....Pages 343-359