Networks of Touch - A Tactile History of Chinese Art, 1790–1840

In early nineteenth-century China, a remarkable transformation took place in the art world: artists among China's educated elites began to use touch to forge a more authentic relationship to the past, to challenge stagnant artistic canons, and to foster deeper human connections. Networks of Touch is an engaging exploration of this sensory turn.
In this book, Michael J. Hatch examines the artistic network of Ruan Yuan (1764-1849), a scholar-official whose patronage supported a generation of artists and learned people who prioritized epigraphic research as a means of truing the warped contours of Confucian heritage. Their work instigated an "epigraphic aesthetic"--an appropriation of the stylistic, material, and tactile features of ancient inscribed objects and their reproductive technologies--in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century artwork. Rubbings, a reduplicative technology, challenged the dominance of brushwork as the bearer of artistic authority. While brushwork represented the artist's physical presence through ink and paper, rubbings were direct facsimiles of tactile experiences with objects. This shift empowered artists and scholars to transcend traditional conventions and explore new mediums, uniting previously separate image-making practices while engaging audiences through the senses.
Centering on touch and presenting a fresh perspective on early nineteenth-century literati art in China, this volume sheds light on a period often dismissed as lacking innovation and calls into question optical realism's perceived supremacy in reshaping the sensory experience of the modern Chinese viewer.

About the author

Michael J. Hatch is Associate Professor of Fine Arts at Trinity College.

Product details

• Authors: Michael J. Hatch
• Publisher: University Presses
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Release: 20.01.2026
• EAN: 9780271095585
• ISBN: 978-0-271-09558-5
• Dimensions: 178 mm x 254 mm x 16 mm
• Weight: 501 g
• Illustrations: Raster,schwarz-weiss, Raster, farbig
• Series: Perspectives on Sensory History
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Art > Art history; China, Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900, ART / History / General, HISTORY / Social History, Social & cultural history, HISTORY / Asia / China, ART / Asian / Chinese, History of art & design styles: c 1800 to c 1900, c 1800 to c 1900, History of Art, Social and cultural history, Asian History, Early 19th century c 1800 to c 1850, History of art & design styles: c 1600 to c 1800, C 1700 To C 1800, Oriental art, c 1790 to c 1799