skip to main content
Guest
My Research
My Account
Sign out
Sign in
This feature requires javascript
Library Search
Find Databases
Browse Search
E-Journals A-Z
E-Books A-Z
Citation Linker
Help
Language:
English
Vietnamese
This feature required javascript
This feature requires javascript
Primo Search
All Library Resources
All
Course Materials
Course Materials
Search For:
Clear Search Box
Search in:
All Library Resources
Or hit Enter to replace search target
Or select another collection:
Search in:
All Library Resources
Search in:
Print Resources
Search in:
Digital Resources
Search in:
Online E-Resources
Advanced Search
Browse Search
This feature requires javascript
Search Limited to:
Search Limited to:
Resource type
criteria input
All items
Books
Articles
Images
Audio Visual
Maps
Graduate theses
Show Results with:
criteria input
that contain my query words
with my exact phrase
starts with
Show Results with:
Search type Index
criteria input
anywhere in the record
in the title
as author/creator
in subject
Full Text
ISBN
ISSN
TOC
Keyword
Field
Show Results with:
in the title
Show Results with:
anywhere in the record
in the title
as author/creator
in subject
Full Text
ISBN
ISSN
TOC
Keyword
Field
This feature requires javascript
A silent evolution: Material engagement and knowledge behind the rise of paper technology across Italy and England (1590-1800)
Digital Resources/Online E-Resources
Citations
Cited by
View Online
Details
Recommendations
Reviews
Times Cited
External Links
This feature requires javascript
Actions
Add to My Research
Remove from My Research
E-mail
Print
Permalink
Citation
EasyBib
EndNote
RefWorks
Delicious
Export RIS
Export BibTeX
This feature requires javascript
Title:
A silent evolution: Material engagement and knowledge behind the rise of paper technology across Italy and England (1590-1800)
Author:
Chessa, Maria
Subjects:
J512 Paper Technology
;
W240 Industrial/Product Design
Description:
The research follows questions arising from a scientific illustration of asbestos, once part of the paper museum of Cassiano dal Pozzo (1646 ca.). As a physical object, capable of perceptually illustrating the filamentous nature of the mineral through a noticeable lint textured sheet, the illustration invites consideration of the scope of the fibre-made medium of paper. What brought paper to be so finely adopted by Cassiano as an expressive tool? What understanding did users have of the substance they used? To what extent did paper contribute to the development of the contents it carried? The aim of the thesis is to present a new, material-focused narrative of paper history in the contexts of Italy and England. In particular, the thesis explores the engagement of the learned and craftsmen with paper as a pervasive substance, in connection with a crucial phase of scientific and technological development between the end of the 16th and the 18th centuries. The project moves away from the conventional ground of paper history and embraces a broader perspective offered by the theories and methodology of material culture. It derives evidence from and within objects, including adopting an ethnographic approach to study papermakers’ understanding of fibres, a topic largely inaccessible through archival sources. The argument develops across three main instances of material engagement of the scholarly world and workshop practices with paper: using, looking, and making. It aims to demonstrate how each of these, with different modalities and contexts, mobilized thought, engendering the articulation of knowledge. The first instance of the material engagement with paper focuses on its instrumental function and delineates a significant transition from the artisanal practice to that of the scientific community. By looking in particular at nature prints and herbaria as epistemic objects, the analysis traces a progression in the adoption of that versatile material technology for visualization, from the development of textual and figurative contents to the physical inclusion of actual specimens. The second instance, on the visual engagement, addresses the rising awareness of paper as a fibrous matter within the new scientific interest for fibres among the learned. From the earliest appearance of paper samples in the cabinets of curiosity to the observations of Bacon and the Linceans, the section reveals how such scrutiny into paper’s matter prompted questions regarding the theoretical framework of the artificial/natural dichotomy, stimulating the emerging understanding of organic physiology in early modern Europe. The third aspect investigates the technique of papermaking as an applied process of knowledge production. The material cognition of paper is explored through the different perspectives of naturalists, who accessed paper mills as an empirical means to investigate fibrous substances, and papermakers, depositaries of dynamic and long accrued insights into the fibres’ functional properties. As a whole, the thesis demonstrates that, between the 17th and 18th centuries in Italy and England, engagement with paper did not simply end with the embrace of a technology, although complex. As a heuristic tool, with its substance of meshed fibres, paper became crucially ingrained in the same advancement of knowledge to which it was making a significant contribution as the principal material for books. The thesis thus outlines a vital involvement of the spheres of art and science with the material of paper: one that engendered knowledge in a mutual progression. While the new scientific observation into living matter and the nature of fibres helped driving the artisanal process of papermaking, the latter supported scholars in their journey of discovery. As a result, the consequence of such exchange shaped the development along with the material landscape of European civilization itself.
Creation Date:
2020
Language:
English
Source:
Royal College of Art Institutional Repository Open Access
This feature requires javascript
This feature requires javascript
Back to results list
This feature requires javascript
This feature requires javascript
Searching Remote Databases, Please Wait
Searching for
in
scope:(TDTS),scope:(SFX),scope:(TDT),scope:(SEN),primo_central_multiple_fe
Show me what you have so far
This feature requires javascript
This feature requires javascript