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CSMC
CSMCCentre for the Study of
Manuscript Cultures

Photo: Karsten Helmholz

Coloured Maps

Coloured Maps

2018 – 2021

‘Coloured Maps’ (2018-2021) is a joint research project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and pursued by the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures (CSMC) and the Mineralogical Museum/Center of Natural History (CeNak) as part of Universität Hamburg, the Hanseatic Business Foundation Archive with the Library of Commerce, and the Museum am Rothenbaum, Kulturen und Künste der Welt (MARKK). The project examines maps of East Asian and European origin drawn, dyed, and coloured by hand between the 15th and 20th century with a particular focus on the colours and colourants used for their production. In doing so, the project pursues a multidisciplinary approach to provide novel insights into research areas that have been neglected thus far. These range from the origin, composition, and processing of colour pigments to their function, use, and associated meaning in order to re-trace historical trade routes and to illuminate questions pertaining to regionally specific print traditions, processes, and innovations.

Particularly the material analysis of the colours and dyes breaks new ground for the study of coloured maps and prints. This research is carried out through predominantly non-invasive methods, including but not limited to microscopy, chemical analysis, and multispectral imaging.

By bringing together researchers from the natural sciences and the humanities, ‘Coloured Maps’ provides a novel comprehensive historical and analytical account of coloured maps, their production, and their significance. The project has also resulted in ten virtual lectures, given between October 2020 and January 2021, a workshop held in November 2020, and the exhibition 'Colour Meets Map' at MARKK, which is open until January 2022.

Publications

Books

Enzel, Kathrin, Oliver Hahn, Susanne Knödel and Jochen Schlüter (eds.) Ausstellungskatalog Farbe trifft Landkarte/Colour meets map. Manuscript cultures No. 16.

Lange, Diana and Oliver Hahn. forthcoming. Colours on East Asian Maps: Their Use and Materiality in China, Japan and Korea between Mid-17th and Early 20th Century. Brill Research Perspectives in Map History Series. Leiden: Brill.

Lange, Diana and Benjamin van der Linde (eds.). Forthcoming. Maps and Colours. A Complex Relationship, Brill Mapping the Past Series. Leiden: Brill. In preparation.

Journal articles and book contributions

Lange Diana. 2020. 'Thoughts on a Hand-painted Pictorial Map of Wutaishan at the Museum am Rothenbaum in Hamburg'. In: Orientations, Vol. 51 (1), pp. 68–79.

Lange, Diana. 2021. 'Ostasiatische Karten | East Asian Maps'. In: Kathrin Enzel, Oliver Hahn, Susanne Knödel and Jochen Schlüter (eds.) Ausstellungskatalog Farbe trifft Landkarte/Colour meets map. Manuscript cultures No. 16, pp. 289–368 [including the identification of colourants by Oliver Hahn and Peter Zietlow].

Lange, Diana. 2022. 'Colour on Maps: Systems, Schemes, Codes'. In: Imago Mundi, Vol. 74 (1), forthcoming.

Lange, Diana. Forthcoming. 'Mapping Qing Empire in Eighteenth Century: Hand-drawn Maps from the "Qing Atlas Tradition" at the Museum am Rothenbaum in Hamburg'. In: manuscript cultures. Manuscript accepted.

Van der Linde, Benjamin. 2020. 'Von den angewandten Farben zur funktionalen Kolorierungsmethode. Zur Entwicklung der Kolorierungsformen von Verlagslandkarten in der Zeit des späten 16. bis frühen 19. Jahrhunderts'. In: Medieval and Early Modern Material Culture Online quer 1 (2020). doi: 10.25536/2020q001.

Van der Linde, Benjamin. 2021. 'Europäische Karten | European Maps'. In: Kathrin Enzel, Oliver Hahn, Susanne Knödel and Jochen Schlüter (eds.) Ausstellungskatalog Farbe trifft Landkarte/Colour meets map. Manuscript cultures No. 16, pp. 111–288 [including the identification of colourants by Oliver Hahn and Peter Zietlow].

Van der Linde, Benjamin. 2021. 'Karten für Kaufleute. See- und Elbkartenproduktion der Hamburger Commerzdeputation im ausgehenden 18. und beginnenden 19. Jahrhundert.' In: Zeitschrift des Vereins für Hamburgische Geschichte (ZHG) 107 (2021), in print, open access ab 2024: https://agora.sub.uni-hamburg.de//subhh/digbib/project2.

Van der Linde, Benjamin. Forthcoming. 'Maps, Map Trade and Map Collections in 18th century Hamburg and the role of Colour and Colorants.' In: Diana Lange and Benjamin van der Linde (eds.). Maps and Colours. A Complex Relationship. Brill Mapping the Past Series. Leiden: Brill. In preparation.

Hahn, Oliver and Peter Zietlow. 2021. 'Materialwissenschaft und Technologie | Material Science and Technology'. In: Kathrin Enzel, Oliver Hahn, Susanne Knödel and Jochen Schlüter (eds.) Ausstellungskatalog Farbe trifft Landkarte/Colour meets map. Manuscript cultures No. 16, pp. 49–110.

Jang, Sang-hoon and Lange, Diana. Forthcoming. 'Colours and readability in the Korean Daedongnyeojido'. In: Diana Lange and Benjamin van der Linde (eds.). Maps and Colours. A Complex Relationship. Brill Mapping the Past Series. Leiden: Brill. In preparation.

Lange, Diana and Benjamin van der Linde. 2021. 'Einführung – Farbe trifft Landkarte | Introduction: Colour meets map.' In: Kathrin Enzel, Oliver Hahn, Susanne Knödel and Jochen Schlüter (eds.) Ausstellungskatalog Farbe trifft Landkarte/Colour meets map. Manuscript cultures No. 16, Hamburg 2021, pp. 23–48.

Contact at CSMC

Professor Dr Oliver Hahn
Universität Hamburg/
BAM (Bundesantalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung),
Analysis of Artefacts and Cultural Assets
Unter den Eichen 44-46, Zweiggelände Fabeckstraße
12203 Berlin
Tel: +49 30 8104-3821
Email: oliver.hahn@bam.de

Coloured Maps

Photo: CSMC

Visit the website

www.csmc.uni-hamburg.de/coloured-maps.html