Religion in Culture Lecture

At 2 pm on October 22, 2003, Professor Cathy Pagani, of the University of Alabama's Department of Art, delivered a public lecture in the Department of Religious Studies entitled, "Jesuits in China: Science, Technology, and Art in the 17th and 18th Centuries." Introduced by Prof. Ted Trost, who heads up the Departments various lecture series, Prof. Pagani spoke on the role played by European clock-making technology in the early-modern contact between Europe and China--specifically between Jesuit missionaries and the Chinese Imperial Court.

Her lecture, which was accompanied by slides of these ornamental clocks, elaborated on the research done for her 2001 book, Eastern Magnificence and European Ingenuity: Clocks of Late Imperial China (click the book cover to visit the publisher's site and to read an excerpt from the book).



Called in Chinese zimingzhong, or "self-ringing bells," Prof. Pagani detailed how these elaborate clocks, complete with moving figures and spinning ornaments, were used as status symbols, decorative items, and personal adornments, yet only occasionally as timepieces (since the Chinese had already developed their own sophisticated astronomical calendar and time-keeping system). Most importantly, these clocks--many of which were the size of furniture pieces--were signifiers of cultural power: Europeans, whether missionaries or ambassadors, controlled the introduction of both object and technology, and they tried to use this control to their advantage in gaining access to the highest reaches of Chinese society.

Prof. Pagain, whose Ph.D. in East Asian Studies was awarded by the University of Toronto, has also worked at the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, and at the National Museum of History, Taipei, Taiwan. Some of her research was conducted at the Number One Historical Archives in Beijing (a collection which contains hand-written palace documents) and at the Palace Museum, Beijing, where she was the first foreigner given access to the collection since 1949. She is the author of numerous articles and two other books: The First Emperor of China and Chinese Opium Boxes in the H. J. Eiley Collection. She is currently working on a book on Tibetan thangka painting in the Birmingham Museum of Art.

Dr. Pagani has been a faculty member here at the Capstone for ten years. She teaches Asian art history. Her courses include a survey of Asian art; upper-level courses in the history of Chinese painting and the history of Japanese painting and prints; and several seminars including Arts of Buddhism, China and the West, and Medieval China. She also teaches two courses in the Blount Undergraduate Initiative Program: the freshman foundations course and a seminar entitled Cooking and Culture.

The "Religion in Culture" Lecture Series is made possible through the generosity of the College of Arts & Sciences' Anonymous Lecture Fund.

For a list of upcoming public lectures sponsored by the Department, please visit our Events page.

Prof. Ted Trost, Chair of the Department's Lecture Series Committee, introduces Prof. Pagani

Thanks to the College of Arts & Sciences, Prof. Pagani's lecture, which includes slides from her research in China, was able to take advantage of our classroom's recently installed multimedia system

Prof. Cathy Pagani, Department of Art, University of Alabama

At the reception which followed the lecture, l to r: Prof. Tim Murphy along with REL majors John Parrish, Guy Cutting, Mark Premo-Hopkins, and, background, Miller Ford

Prof. Pagani speaking with Guy Cutting, a double-major in History and REL; background: Maarten Ultee, Department of History

Prof. Maarten Ultee, left, attended the lecture along with the members of his Department of History Proseminar

Prof. Pagani, background; Prof. Ultee speaking with some of his History students

Photos thanks to Betty Dickey
and Donna Martin