Commercial Commissions

Hinterlands and Commodities

Book Cover Illustration
Client: Brill Publishing, 2013

Panels on the cover graphically represent elements of porcelain’s commodity chain production system, including depiction of transportation overland of items from hinterland fabrication to a regional port, continuing on to distant port facilities. Upon arrival overseas, some porcelain objects settle within port cities themselves, while other items migrate to urban and rural areas connected via waterways and land routes. Retail end-market purchase by a Japanese customer – resident of an urban environment, a hinterland, or somewhere in between – is depicted in the final panel.

Panels reflect the underlying theme of this collection of essays: linkages among/between hinterlands, port cities, and urban areas. Metamorphosis from raw materials to end products is emphasized, as is relocation of products from place to place, across space,
over time, to diverse end-market destinations.

Illustration is partially adapted from original illustrations by Song Yingxing in “Tian Gong Kai Wu” manuscript, 1637.

Cover Illustration