International Studies

Manuscript copy by Hajime Terai from original written in 1765 by Ise; illustrations copied by Odani.

The great comet of 1680 illumines the sky above Nuremberg. One person among the onlooking crowd observes through a hand-held telescope. This was the first comet to be discovered by a telescope. Gottfried Kirch, a German astronomer, first saw it on November 14, 1680.

This Chinese lion is know as a Shi, or an imperial guardian lion. It was a symbol of protection and often placed in front of tombs, palaces, temples, and important homes

Schreck helped Galileo show the telescope to the Medici family and others in Rome. Once he arrived in China, he wrote this work on engineering in Chinese.

Confucius lived in the early 5th century BCE, roughly contemporary with the Pythagoreans and Presocratic natural philosophers. Confucius taught: “Do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself,” an early version of the Golden Rule.

Nieremberg saw an unpublished manuscript of Hernandez. Many of his descriptions of plants and animals relied upon Hernandez and other sources from Mexico and Peru. In classification, Nieremberg retained Hernandez’ use of native Nahuatl names.

The secret of silk farming spread from China to Korea and India about the beginning of the Common Era. Its international trade led to the establishment of the Silk Road, which extended over 4,000 miles and connected the major ancient and medieval civilizations from China to Asia Minor.

This work is a commentary on the Ling-shu, a classic treatise on acupuncture and moxibustion. It describes treatments for a variety of conditions, with 45 depictions of acupuncture points for both adults and children.

Yin and yang, a recurring motif in traditional Chinese thought, express the idea of the interconnectedness of opposites. Phenomena which appear as dualities to us, such as darkness and light, or high and low tides, will turn out to be interdependent and profoundly related.

This travel narrative and encyclopedia presented the most up-to-date information about China based on Jesuit sources and the knowledge of commercial traders.

This map, based on Cantelli’s own reports as well as the surveys of Martini, influenced the larger Coronelli map also on display. Cantelli depicts relief and features like the Great Wall pictorially. Peking is clearly indicated. Korea is a peninsula, per Martini.

Du Halde lived in China for nearly 30 years. This work recounts the story of Candida Xu, who collaborated with the Jesuit astronomers as had her grandfather, Xu Guangki. For a foldout map of China, du Halde drew upon the Kangxi atlases of 1717 and 1721.

Du Halde lived in China for nearly 30 years. This work recounts the story of Candida Xu, who collaborated with the Jesuit astronomers as had her grandfather, Xu Guangki. For a foldout map of China, du Halde drew upon the Kangxi atlases of 1717 and 1721.

Galileo’s mechanics demonstrated that projectiles follow a parabolic path. This is true whether the projectile is a cannonball, an arrow or a football. This set of four Japanese Samurai manuscripts, drawn on rice paper in the mid 1800’s, was copied by hand from mid-16th-century sources.