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SUMMARY:Representing the tropical 'hortus': natural knowledge in Michael B
 oym's Flora Sinensis (1656) - Eszter Csillag (Hong Kong Baptist University
 )
DTSTART:20260202T130000Z
DTEND:20260202T140000Z
UID:TALK244132@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:132391
DESCRIPTION:The Polish Jesuit missionary Michael Boym (1612–1659) wrote 
 some of the earliest European studies on China's natural history. His semi
 nal work\, _Flora Sinensis_ (Vienna\, 1656)\, is not merely a botanical ca
 talogue but a complex representation of China as a land of unparalleled fe
 rtility. While Boym's text promotes Chinese cultivation techniques and exo
 tic flora\, its hand coloured print images particularly emphasize plants f
 rom the southern\, tropical regions of China.\n\nThis lecture argues that 
 these tropical zones functioned in the European imagination as a kind of p
 seudo-greenhouse – a naturally abundant space where desirable fruits and
  spices flourished without need for intervention. Through an analysis of _
 Flora Sinensis_\, I demonstrate how Boym's project was shaped less by a st
 rict scientific survey of native botany and more by a logic of availabilit
 y and fascination. His work represents a moment where empirical observatio
 n merged with the economic and cultural desire for the exotic.\n\nConseque
 ntly\, this study proposes a shift in how we read early modern botanical b
 ooks: rather than categorizing them by their native origin\, we should exa
 mine them as records of cross-cultural encounters\, where visual represent
 ation was dictated by what was accessible\, remarkable\, and valuable to t
 he observer. In Boym's case\, the 'science' of flora is inseparable from t
 he allure of the tropical.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 1\, Department of History and Philosophy of Science
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