The Monkey and the Inkpot : : Natural History and Its Transformations in Early Modern China / / Carla Nappi.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Asian Studies Backlist (2000-2014) eBook Package
• VerfasserIn: Nappi, Carla,
• Place / Publishing House: Cambridge, MA : : Harvard University Press, , [2010]; ©2009
• Year of Publication: 2010
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource
• Other title: Frontmatter --; CONTENTS --; List of Illustrations --; Ex-Voto --; Note on Conversions --; Prologue: A Curious Instinct, A Taste for Ink --; 1. Conception: Birth of a Naturalist --; 2. Generation: Anatomy of a Naturalist --; INTERLUDE. Here Be Dragons: A Reader's Guide to the Bencao gangmu --; 3. Transformation: Elements of Change --; 4. Transformation: Sprouts of Change --; 5. Transformation: Bodies of Change --; 6. Transformation: Creatures of Change --; Conclusion. Rot and Rebirth: The Afterlife and Reincarnation of a Naturalist --; Appendix A. Li Shizhen, Lidai zhujia bencao [Bencao works through the ages] --; Appendix B. Contents of the Bencao gangmu [Systematic materia medica] --; Notes --; Glossary of Chinese Characters --; Index
• Format: Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
• ISBN: 9780674054356; 9783110649772; 9783110442205; 9783110459517; 9783110662566
• DOI: 10.4159/9780674054356
• Access: restricted access
• Hierarchical level: Monograph
• Statement of Responsibility: Carla Nappi.

This is the story of a Chinese doctor, his book, and the creatures that danced within its pages. The Monkey and the Inkpot introduces natural history in sixteenth-century China through the iconic Bencao gangmu (Systematic materia medica) of Li Shizhen (1518 - 1593). In the first book-length study in English of Li's text, Carla Nappi reveals a "cabinet of curiosities" of gems, beasts, and oddities whose author was devoted to using natural history to guide the application of natural and artificial objects as medical drugs.