Journal | Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie occidentale
Journal issue | 51 | 2017
Research Article | Corallium rubrum’s Itineraries and Sources
Corallium rubrum’s Itineraries and Sources
Trades between the Mediterranean, India, China and Japan from Antiquity to Early Modern Times
Abstract
Since ancient times, red coral has been one of the most appreciated original items exported from the Mediterranean to India and East Asia, along the circuits of the silk and spice trade routes. Nevertheless, due to its rarity, as well as to a paucity or a lack of records, studies seem often to neglect this product on the move from the West to the East. Focusing mostly on some accounts from antiquity to early modern times, this paper gathers information and mentions from several sort of archival, artistic, and literary sources, in order to explain why coral was appreciated, how it was acknowledged, traded and employed by different civilizations, especially in East Asia.
Submitted: March 6, 2017 | Accepted: March 29, 2017 | Published Sept. 28, 2017 | Language: it
Keywords China • Red coral • Japan • Mediterranean Sea • Eurasian trade
Copyright © 2017 Tiziana Iannello. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.14277/2499-1562/AnnOc-51-17-8
