Editorial Conversation: Book 1 - Chapter 3: Use, Disuse, and the Experience of Meaning
A concerto can exist on a page or it can exist on the stage. The existence of a work is not sufficient for the judgment of its beauty; should you be unable to read sheet music, the notes will fail to sound; it takes an orchestra to raise a concerto for the appreciation of its beauty.
The show is available on YouTube and Spotify.
Errata
- 3:31 – Ryan says “the gentleman” referring to Liu Yiquan.
- 7:30 – 8:45 – Patrick discusses Chenghua era porcelain and cites a Sothebys’ article titled The Meiyintang ‘Chicken Cup’ which states that the imperial kilns stopped firing in 1485. Additional clarifications:
- the imperial kilns remained operational though DouCai, the style of the Chicken Cup, was discontinued in 1485 and was not resumed until the Qing.
- the imperial Kilns after Chenghua declined in their quality, partially because of problems throughout the empire, and because of a release of corvee labor that allowed artisans to begin enter private industry if they paid for their release from service. The change in policy effectively reduced the number of artisans available to the court from ~150,000 to ~12,000 over a period of ~50 years.
- 11:48 – Patrick mentions factory 1 and factory 6 yixings, Yixing Factory 6 does not exist – Patrick was referring to 6-character seal yixings.
- 11:52 – White sticker or green sticker period, often called white label or green label period.
- 14:58 – Ryan says “No one buys an 18 million dollar chicken cup because it has really good tea”, he meant to say “No one buys a 36 million dollar [USD] chicken cup for its positive effect on flavor of tea”. Ryan was referring to the Meiyintang chicken cup, which sold at auction for 36 million USD.
