European Research Centre for Chinese Studies

Appropriating the Past: Chinese and Western Antiquarianism (Alain Schnapp)

Abstract: Antiquarianism is considered to have been a creation of the European Renaissance but interest on ancient monuments and object was known in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and China. European Antiquarianism was born as a rediscovery of the Ancients. Classical and national antiquities were collected and studied to reconstruct the story of ancient Europe and colonised countries. Chinese antiquarianism relies on continuity. From the Han to the Song and after Chinese scholars were engaged in collecting, describing and preserving antiquities but they were interested in different kinds of monuments and objects. I will try to describe the differences and convergences between these two traditions in order to stress the universal dimensions of antiquarianism.

发现历史、掌握过去——中西尚古风潮之比较

摘要：尚古风潮被认为是欧洲文艺复兴的产物，但古代遗迹和遗物的兴趣点以古埃及、美索不达米亚和中国最为出名。欧洲尚古风潮以对古代的重新发现这种方式产生：古典（古埃及、希腊、罗马等）的和民族国家的古物被收集和研究，来重新构建古代欧洲和殖民国家的历史。反之，中国尚古风潮的特征是连续性，从汉代到宋代之后，中国文人曾经从事对古物的收集、描述和保存，而他们对于多个不同时代和不同类型的器物都有兴趣。我将试图描述这两种传统之间的差异性和趋同性，以强调尚古风潮的普遍性。