Chapters 3 & 4 before class

Summary of chapter 3: It begins by talking about the many innovations the Chinese culture had made that definitely influenced everyone in the world. The first one addressed was Chinese calligraphy. Every word had its own symbol in the Chinese writing system, and they were all logograms or signs the represented an actual word. The earliest form of Chinese writing known is called Chiaku-wen and it was composed of pictographs and was very closely related to the "art of divination". The next script was called chin-wen and it was mostly written on bronze. The 3rd phase of Chinese calligraphy was called hsiao chuan, which had a more abstract look to it than the past two.  The last evolution of the chinese writing was called chen-shu and its is seen as a high art form in the Chinese culture. As stated in the text Chinese calligraphy, "was said to have bones (authority and size), meat (the proportion of the characters), blood (the texture of the fluid ink), and muscle (spirit and vital force)." They used nature and movement as an inspiration making the script truly artistic. The reading moves on to talk about the invention of paper and how it came about. The Chinese first started writing on bamboo slats or strips of wood. Silk was also used for writing since the slats and wood were far too heavy, but the silk was costly. They soon created the first paper out of mulberry bark and other materials. 

The next section talks about the origin of printing.  There are two different theories of how it began: Using engraved seals was soon turned into printing and the other was the Chinese practice of making ink fubbings from the inscriptions in stone. It is unknown exactly the origin, but the first known printing was in 770 A.D. and it was perfected after. The oldest printed manuscript that was able to survive was called the Diamond Sutra consisting of 7 sheets that were put together to form a scroll with Buddhas revelations.  Also this advance in printing also allowed for money to be printed on paper. Other things were also invented such as the actual book and playing cards. The Chinese also invented moveable type, where they made different character blocks and arranged them together to be printed where they were joined by a material such as wax or bronze and then reheated again to separate. This was difficult for the Chinese to do since their language was not in alphabetic structure, but it definitely made printing a lot faster for many other writings.

Summary of Chapter 4: This chapter begins to describe how manuscripts began to be illustrated upon and designs were made because it became important in its own way to each culture. "Gold leafs" were used in manuscripts for very important or sacred manuscripts and several ink colors were introduced. Punctuation was eventually added to separate pitch changes and pauses. Most illustrations were for educational purposes and knowledge was spread very slowly during this time, so many styles began to emerge. The classic style consisted of rustic capitals, one column which was on each page, illustrations that were framed in bright colors in the top, bottom, or middle of the page, and the major figures in the drawings were labeled. As the fall of Rome came about and the middle ages came into play many magnificent crafts were created. Letter styles began to evolve in order to find a simple more efficient way of writing. Two new techniques were developed called Uncia and lowercase letters were developed. Celtic designs that soon emerged were seen as colorful, complicated patterns and were abstract. Not only was the distinct illustrations an innovation of the Celtic culture, but also the creation of spaces to separate words was created in order to better understand the readings. The Celtic culture soon ceased as the island of Ireland was invaded. Since the Celtic style was the only writings really designed at this time Charlemagne began to try to find a standardized page layout and revive designing. The Caroline miniscule was created and it made writing more legible by using spaces and uppercase and lowercase letters.  Spanish designs were influenced by Islamic designs with bright color and intricate frames. It continues to talk about other designs such as romanesque scripts and Gothic scripts which used a bolder, black type. It also addresses judaic manuscripts which were rare, but reflected emphasis on religious topics and used bright blues and gold ink. Next the Islamic style was explained to have little spaces, not really any figurative drawings, and a lot of bright colors. Most of their designs were geometric or arabesque. Lastly, it talks about the late midieval illuminated manuscripts which were beautiful, using a lot of illustration, color and detail. 

2.) I thought the most interesting part was the section on the Celtic designs. I just found their designs to be so complicated and beautiful in a way since nothing like this was ever really done before. It gave their writings a unique style and definitely set the tone for illustrations and illuminated manuscripts to come.

3.) Is it wrong if I don't have any questions??