Art and the brain: the influence of art on Roger Shepard's studies of mental rotation

This paper explores the influence of visual sources on Roger N. Shepard's 1971 mental rotation experiments and the centrality of ambiguity as one of his experimental and artistic concerns. Sources include Shepard's statements about ambiguity as expressed in the book, Mind Sights, and a recent interview. Parallel investigations of ambiguity by the contemporary artists Al Held and Robert Smithson are considered. Shepard utilized a wide range of visual sources while formulating his experimental design, namely Necker cube illusions, hypnopompic images, René Magritte, and M.C. Escher. In addition, he drew upon key art historical theses of the time, such as Ernst Gombrich's theories about schemas. For Shepard as for Gombrich, the world of appearances is a world of ambiguity.     

Commentary. The diseases of Alexander the Great

The accompanying articles that speculate that Alexander the Great had a traumatic carotid dissection or congenital cervical scoliosis demonstrate the difficulties in retrospective diagnosis as a historical enterprise. The extant primary sources were written centuries after Alexander's death and are ambiguous in their original languages, and even more so in translation. Thus we cannot be certain what illness Alexander actually had. Furthermore, anachronistic diagnosis removes Alexander from the medical context of this time, telling us little of historical significance about him. Such investigations also illustrate the more general limits that the absence of context imposes on the study of ancient history.     

Book reviews

CHINA

ANITA CHAN. China's Workers Under Assault: the Exploitation of Labour in a Globalising Economy. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 2001. 250 pp. US$ 22.95, paper.

YIJIANG DING. Chinese Democracy after Tiananmen. Vancouver and Toronto: UBC Press, 2001. Acknowledgments, notes, glossary, bibliography, index. 172 pp. C$75.00, hardcover.

BARBARA ENTWISLE and GAIL E. HENDERSON (eds). Re‐drawing Boundaries: work, Household and Gender in China. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000. x, 344 pp. US$19.95, paper.

XIN LIU. In One's Own Shadow: an Ethnographic Account of the Condition of Post‐Reform Rural China. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University Press, 2000. xvi, 246 pp. Illustrations, preface, notes, glossary, bibliography, index. US$15.95, paper.

XUEPING ZHONG. Masculinity Besieged? Issues of Modernity and Male Subjectivity in Chinese Literature of the Late Twentieth Century. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2000. 208 pp. Bibliography. US$49.95, hardcover; US$17.95, paper.

JAPAN, KOREA

MARIUS B. JANSEN. The Making of Modern Japan. Cambridge and London: Harvard University Press/Belknap, 2000. xviii, 871 pp. US$35.00, hardcover.

MICHAEL MARRA (trans. and ed.) A History of Modern Japanese Aesthetics. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2001. 398 pp. Glossary, chronology, bibliography, index. US$32.95; US$69.20, paper.

SOUTH, WEST AND CENTRAL ASIA

A. K. HELLUM. A Painter's Year in the Forests of Bhutan. Edmonton and Honolulu: University of Alberta/University of Hawai'i Press, 2001. 120 pp. Appendix, bibliography. US$35.00, paper.

PRADIP N. KHANDWALLA. Revitalizing the State: a Menu of Options. New Delhi: Sage Publications, 1999. 303 pp. Rs. 250, paper.

SHOMPA LAHIRI. Indians in Britain: Anglo‐Indian Encounters, Race and Identity 1880–1930. Portland, OR: Frank Cass, 2000. 249 pp. Glossary, bibliography, index. US$59.50, hardcover; US$24.50 paper.

SOUTHEAST ASIA

Economic Development of Burma: a Vision and a Strategy. A Study by Burmese Economists. Stockholm: Olof Palme International Center; Singapore: Singapore University Press, 2000. 233 pp. S$30.00, paper.     

Book reviews

CHINA

RONALD SULESKI. Civil Government in Warlord China: tradition, Modernization and Manchuria. New York: Peter Lang, 2002. 302 pp. Bibliography, index. US$66.95, hardcover.

BØRGE BAKKEN. The Exemplary Society: human Improvement, Social Control, and the Dangers of Modernity in China. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. 516 pp. Notes, bibliography, glossary, index. A$300.00, hardcover.

DU SHANSHAN. "Chopsticks Only Work in Pairs”. Gender Unity and Gender Equality Among the Lahu of Southwest China. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002. US$60.00, hardcover; US$25.50, paper.

REBECCA E. KARL. Staging the World: Chinese Nationalism at the Turn of the Twentieth Century. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2002. US$59.95, hardcover; US$19.95, paper.

ELIZABETH J. PERRY. Challenging the Mandate of Heaven: social Protest and State Power in China. New York: M.E. Sharpe, 2002. US$73.95, hardcover; US$27.95, paper.

JAPAN AND KOREA

STEVE ODIN. Artistic Detachment in Japan and the West: psychic Distance in Comparative Aesthetics. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2001. 204 pp. Index. US$55.00, hardcover; US$19.95, paper.

VERA MACKIE. Feminism in Modern Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. xiv, 293 pp. £50.00, hardcover; £18.95, paper.

KAYE BROADBENT. W omen's Employment in Japan: the Experience of Part‐time Workers. London and New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003. 176 pp. US$90.00/£55.00, hardcover.

JAMES R. BRANDON and SAMUEL L. LEITER (eds). Kabuki Plays on Stage: Darkness and Desire, 1804–1864. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 2002. xv, 397 pp. 31 colour and 14 b/w plates, glossary, selected bibliography, contributors, index, list of plays by volume, dust jacket. US$50.00, hardcover.

KONGDAN OH (ed). Korea Briefing 1997–1999: challenges and Change at the Turn of the Century. Published in cooperation with the Asia Society. New York: M.E. Sharpe, 2000. 243 pp. Preface, map, chronology, glossary, suggestions for further reading and websites, index. US$30.95, paper.

KONGDAN OH and RALPH HASSIG (eds). Korea Briefing 2000–2001: first Steps Toward Reconciliation and Reunification. Published in cooperation with the Asia Society. Armonk: M.E. Sharpe, 2002. 308 pp. Maps, tables, bibliography, chronology, index. US$24.95, paper.

The Korean Peninsula: peace and Prosperity after the Pyongyang Summit (Proceedings of a Conference 6–7 October 2000). New Zealand Asia Institute: The University of Auckland, 2001. 146 pp. New Zealand domestic price $NZ20.00 or equivalent incl. postage and packing. Overseas price $NZ30.00 or equivalent incl. postage and packing.

YONGHO CH'OE, PETER H. LEE, and W.M. THEODORE DE BARY (eds). Sources of Korean Tradition, Volume 2: from the Sixteenth to the Twentieth Centuries. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000. Preface, explanatory note, contributors, bibliography, index. US$54.00, hardcover; US$22.50, paper.

SEIJI M. LIPPIT. Topographies of Japanese Modernism. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002. 301 pp. US$22.50/£16.50, paper.

SOUTH, WEST & CENTRAL ASIA

ALF HILTEBEITEL. Rethinking the Mahàbhàrata: a Reader's Guide to the Education of the Dharma King. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001. x, 365 pp. US$50.00, hardcover; US$25.00, paper.

ALI AMJAD. Labour Legislation and Trade Unions in India and Pakistan. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. xix, 190 pp. £15.99, hardcover.

LIONEL CAPLAN. Children of Colonialism: Anglo‐Indians in a Postcolonial World. Oxford and New York: Berg, 2001. x, 261 pp. US$75.00, hardcover; US$25.00, paper.

JACQUES POUCHEPADASS. Land, Power and Market: a Bihar District under Colonial Rule, 1860–1947. New Delhi, Thousand Oaks, London: Sage Publications, 2000. 574 pp. Tables, figures, maps, appendixes, abbreviations, glossary, introduction, sources and bibliography, index. Rs 695, hardcover.

SOUTHEAST ASIA

THOMAS M. McKENNA. Muslim Rulers and Rebels: everyday Politics and Armed Separatism in the Southern Philippines. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998. 364 pp. £37.95, hardcover; £16.95, paper.

JEROEN TOUWEN. Shipping and Trade in the Java Sea Region, 1870–1940: a Collection of Statistics on the Major Java Sea Ports. Leiden: KITLV Press, 2001. xi, 172 pp. Tables, figures, bibliography.

DANIEL FITZPATRICK. Land Claims in East Timor. Canberra: Asia‐Pacific Press, 2002. x, 246 pp. A$40.00.

GEORGE McT. KAHIN. Southeast Asia: a Testament. London and New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003. xxiv, 350 pp. £75.00, hardcover; £19.99, paper.

BOB HERING. Sukarno: founding Father of Indonesia 1901–1945. Leiden: KITLV [Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal‐, Land‐ en Volkenkunde] Press, 2002. 439 pp. Euro30.00, paper.

POLINE BALA. Changing Borders and Identities in the Kelabit Highlands: anthropological Reflections on Growing Up in a Kelabit Village near the International Border Dayak Studies Contemporary Society Series, no. 1. The Institute of East Asian Studies, Sarawak Malaysia: Unit Penerbitan Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, 2002. 142 pp. Bibliography, glossary, index, images. No price given, paper.     

European Pond Turtles from Obříství (Bohemia,Czech Republic)

The paper describes and analyses recent finds of the European pond turtle (Emys orbicularis) from the archaeological sites at Obříství (Mělník District, at the confluence of the Elbe and Moldau rivers in the Bohemian Basin, Czech Republic). Turtle remains were found in three sunken features dated to the Late Bronze Age or to the Hallstatt period, and in one feature dated to the Neolithic. The high number of osteological finds, particularly the number of individuals found in one place, is unique within Bohemia and very rare for the Bronze Age to Iron Age in Europe. A large number of shell remains were identified, from at least 12 individuals in feature 1480, and from at least 5 individuals in feature 1483. The high numbers support the hypothesis that the European pond turtle was once a regular feature of the local fauna, even though the Bohemian basin is surrounded by mountains, which will have presented difficulties for the process of postglacial recolonization by semiaquatic thermophilous reptiles. The findings from Obříství show evidence of the exploitation of turtles for food. Signs of culinary procedures and the human consumption of turtles include anthropogenic chop marks, signs of burning and the apparently intentional segmentation of the turtle bodies. The quantity of turtle bones is still negligible, however, compared with those of mammals. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Identification of Green Pigment Used in Persian Wall Paintings (ad 1501–1736) Using PLM,FT–IR,SEM/EDX and GC–MS Techniques

The technique of oil painting was introduced to Iran via a cultural exchange with Europe in the Safavid period (ad 1501–1736). Since the first attempt at scientific conservation of wall paintings in Iran in the 1960s, the nature of green pigment used in Persian wall paintings has not been clear, although work on contemporary miniature paintings has identified malachite and verdigris. PLM, FT–IR, SEM/EDX, GC–MS and the study of contemporary historical treatises of the Safavid period were the main tools used in the present study to identify the green pigments in Persian (oil‐based) wall paintings. Eight samples taken from the two famous Safavid buildings, Chehel Sotoon Palace and the Sukias House in Isfahan, were analysed. Here, the identification of copper‐based pigment and of verdigris in oil as oleate amends the existing knowledge of the green pigment used in these paintings. It also suggests that oleate was introduced to Persian artists via the European influence on Persian painting as a result of cultural exchange in the Safavid period, when the technique of Persian painting changed from tempera to oil painting. However, as verdigris in oil and resin can appear as oleate over time, it is unknown whether the Persian artists did this deliberately or accidentally.