HA986-30 Crafting the Global Early Modern
Introductory description
This module explores the role of artisanal practices and craft knowledge in shaping the Early Modern world (c.1450-c.1750) from a cultural, social, economic and environmental perspective. It critically traces the interwoven paths of key crafts – ranging from ceramics to textiles – predominantly in Europe and Asia in the so-called ‘first age of globalisation’. This module will appeal to students more broadly interested in the history of materials and making, the development and circulation of craft knowledge, the relationship between science, technology and the arts, and art historical approaches to early modern globalisation. The module will involve the reading and interpretation of primary sources related to craft, including treatises and workshop documentation, and include hands-on, experiential learning.
Module aims
The module aims to consider the ways in which artisanal practices and craft knowledge contributed to the making of the Early Modern world, predominantly in Europe and Asia, through the lens of global art history. Exploring the contribution of different craft materials and processes, the module will examine craft practices and their wider social, cultural, economic and environmental contexts and impacts. The module will consider questions of localised knowledge and trans-cultural craft skill, experimentation, imitation, innovation, representation and codification, guild and labour organisation, gender and the impact of craft practices on the environment.
Outline syllabus
This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.
Early Modern artisanal cultures: interconnected local and global
Between art, technology and science: Representing artisanal knowledge
Cities, courts and the rise of consumption
Producing materials
Disegno, design and embodied knowledge
Organising craft
Gender and craft
Making: from the workshop to the shop floor
Bio- and eco-creativity
Craft and the environment
Learning outcomes
By the end of the module, students should be able to:
- Acquire and demonstrate detailed knowledge of key aspects of Early Modern crafts and their wider contexts and impacts
- Acquire and demonstrate in-depth knowledge of primary visual, material and written sources pertaining to artisans and their practices
- Display an understanding and critically engage with key theoretical and methodological frameworks within which early modern artisanal cultures and their productions have been examined
- Initiate and sustain group discussion through intelligent questioning and debate at an appropriate level
- Ability to undertake research and to write up the results using accurately specific techniques of analysis and enquiry in the form of a well-structured argument at an appropriate level
- Familiarity with essential ICT skills
- Ability to collaborate effectively with others
- Show understanding of diverse viewpoints
- Ability to find, select, organize and synthesize evidence
- Ability to formulate a sustained argument
- Think conceptually and independently at an appropriate level
- Ability to conduct independent research and analysis
- Sophisticated visual analysis and understanding of visual culture
- Bibliographical skills at an appropriate level
- Critical analysis of cultural artefacts in their context
Indicative reading list
- Edward Cooke, Global Objects: Toward a Connected Art History (Princeton University Press, 2022)
- James Farr, Artisans in Europe, 1300-1914 (Cambridge University Press, 2000)
- Robert Finlay The Pilgrim Art: Cultures of Porcelain in World History (University of California Press, 2020)
- Anne Gerritsen and Giorgio Riello (eds), The Global Lives of Things. The Material Culture of Connections in the Early Modern World (Routledge, 2016)
- Christine Guth, Craft Culture in Early Modern Japan: Materials, Making and Mastery (University of California Press, 2022)
- Ursula Klein and Emma Spary (eds.), Materials and Expertise in Early Modern Europe: Between Market and Laboratory (University of Chicago Press, 2010)
- Pamela O. Long, Artisan Practitioners and the Rise of the New Sciences, 1400-1600 (Oregon State UP, 2011)
- Dagmar Schaefer, The Crafting of the 10,000 Things: Knowledge and Technology in Seventeenth-Century China (University of Chicago Press, 2011)
- Pamela H. Smith (ed.), Entangled Itineraries: Materials, Practices, and Knowledges across Eurasia (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2019)
- Pamela H. Smith, From Lived Experience to the Written Word: Reconstructing Practical Knowledge in the Early Modern World (University of Chicago Press, 2022)
- Luke Syson and Dora Thornton, Objects of Virtue (London, 2001)
Subject specific skills
- Acquire and demonstrate detailed knowledge of key aspects of Early Modern crafts and their wider contexts and impacts
- Acquire and demonstrate in-depth knowledge of primary visual, material and written sources pertaining to artisans and their practices
- Display an understanding and critically engage with key theoretical and methodological frameworks within which early modern artisanal cultures and their productions have been examined
- Sophisticated visual analysis and understanding visual culture
- Critical analysis of cultural artefacts in their context
Transferable skills
- Initiate and sustain group discussion through intelligent questioning and debate at an appropriate level
- Ability to undertake research and to write up the results using accurately specific techniques of analysis and enquiry in the form of a well-structured argument at an appropriate level
- Familiarity with essential ICT skills
- Ability to collaborate effectively with others
- Show understanding of diverse viewpoints
- Ability to find, select, organize and synthesize evidence
- Ability to formulate a sustained argument
- Think conceptually and independently at an appropriate level
- Ability to conduct independent research and analysis
- Bibliographical skills at an appropriate level
Study time
Type | Required |
---|---|
Seminars | 20 sessions of 2 hours (13%) |
Tutorials | 3 sessions of 1 hour (1%) |
Fieldwork | 1 session of 3 hours (1%) |
Private study | 254 hours (85%) |
Total | 300 hours |
Private study description
Reading and other preparatory tasks for seminars; presentation preparation; essay planning, research and writing
Costs
Category | Description | Funded by | Cost to student |
---|---|---|---|
Field trips, placements and study abroad |
Study visit to London museum or gallery |
Department | £0.00 |
You do not need to pass all assessment components to pass the module.
Assessment group A1
Weighting | Study time | Eligible for self-certification | |
---|---|---|---|
Assessment component |
|||
5000 word essay | 90% | No | |
Reassessment component is the same |
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Assessment component |
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Engagement | 10% | No | |
Engagement with preparatory, and in-class learning |
|||
Reassessment component is the same |
Feedback on assessment
On feedback form and dedicated tutorials
Courses
This module is Optional for:
- Year 1 of TRSA-V1PF Postgraduate Taught Culture of the European Renaissance
This module is Option list B for:
- Year 1 of THAA-V4PJ Postgraduate Taught History of Art and Visual Studies
This module is Option list C for:
- Year 1 of TPHA-V7PN Postgraduate Taught Philosophy and the Arts