“Dazzling Reds and Blues”: Illustrated “Bencao” (Materia Medica) Manuscripts in China

Professor Gao analyzes the significance of these depictions in art history, history of medicine, and book culture, focusing especially on how they represent ideas about human-nature relationships in historical China.

This lecture was made possible with generous support from the Carol, Edward, Ariana, and Joseph Wong Trust.

About the Speaker

Gao (B.A., University of Hong Kong; M.A., Columbia University; Ph.D., University of Kansas) teaches East Asian art at Wake Forest University. Her research fields include intersections of natural history and pictorial arts, book culture, and women artists. Her current project examines the social history of materia medica images in the Ming dynasty of China (1368–1644). In addition to her specialty in painting history, Gao is also interested in Japanese prints, Chinese bronze culture, and interregional transmissions of art within and beyond East Asia. Her research has been supported by the Bei Shan Tang Foundation, the Metropolitan Center for Far Eastern Art Studies, the Getty Foundation, and the Hall Center for Humanities.