Incense and literary men : the connoisseurship, writing, and compilation of objects in seventeenth-century China

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This dissertation examines late-Ming literati culture through the lens of incense-related texts, arguing that writings on this ephemeral yet symbolically rich object offer a unique prism for understanding contemporary practices of appraising, compiling, and writing about “superfluous things” (zhangwu 長物). Integrating methods from literary studies, material culture, and the history of knowledge, it analyzes a diverse corpus of guidebooks to objects––including connoisseurship literature, pulu 譜錄manuals, and commercially printed compendia and collectanea. The study investigates how these texts, which straddle practical guidebooks and literary expression, codified material knowledge, shaped aesthetic standards, and negotiated literati identity within an expanding culture of consumption and print. Chapter Two maps the generic landscape of late-Ming guidebooks to objects guidebooks, including connoisseurship literature, pulu manuals, collectanea, and compendium, establishing a typological framework for the study. Chapter Three examines specialized incense manuals to trace the infusion of evidential research (kaozheng 考證) and broad learning (boxue 博學) into material scholarship. Chapter Four investigates commercial collectanea to reveal the commodification of refined taste. Chapter Five culminates in a study of Li Yu’s 李漁 (1611-1680) Leisure Notes (Xianqing ouji 閒情偶寄), highlighting a decisive shift from transmitting established knowledge to authoring innovative designs and a philosophy of inventive frugality. Ultimately, this research argues that the late-Ming “material turn” was profoundly constituted and mediated by textual culture. By systematizing the cultural and sensory knowledge of incense, literati not only navigated social anxieties about luxury and authenticity but also actively constructed a literary and material landscape. This dissertation contributes to the fields of late-imperial Chinese literature and cultural history by revealing how the intimate practice of incense appreciation served as a vital medium for negotiating literati identity, cultural authority, and textual culture in a period of intense socio-economic change.

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