ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the example of Muromachi-era kara-e—literally, 'Tang pictures'—as a case study for considering the issues at play in such an approach. It shows that thinking in terms of dualities of meaning—or perhaps even a semi-lattice kind of relationship—involving the 'local' and 'global' is essential to the consideration of a history of East Asian painting. Conventional East Asian painting history draws on a biographical tradition that discusses style and form based on an artist's name. In the Muromachi period, major works were brought under the control of the most powerful men of the day, the Ashikaga shoguns, who worked out various systems for display and organization of their collections. Thus, in one sense, these works from China took on a leading role in Japanese art circles and at the same time gradually came to set the standard for Japanese painters.
