In the first decades of the nineteenth century, large-format woodblock-printed terrestrial and celestial maps were produced in bright blue in China. These visually striking maps in addition to their physical scale are unique in the history of not only East Asian but world map making traditions. This presentation introduces these blue maps, historicizing them from the late Ming through Qing dynasties and considers numerous aspects of their production especially in light of recent analysis performed at the University of Michigan Museum of Art Conservation Center and the Weissman Preservation Center, Harvard University.

Please register in advance for this Zoom seminar here: https://umich.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_zxRRberdR4e6f18TAkEifQ

Richard A. Pegg is currently Director and Curator of Asian Art for the MacLean Collection, an Asian art museum and separate map library located north of Chicago, Illinois. Dr. Pegg has a BA and MA in East Asian Literature from The George Washington University and a PhD in East Asian Art History from Columbia University. He has written and lectured widely on the visual, literary, cartographic and martial arts traditions of East Asia. His most recent research has been focused on the cartography of East Asia, authoring two books: "Cartographic Traditions in East Asian Maps" (2014) and "The Blue Maps of China" (forthcoming).