文明（2018）

Civilisations S01E06

Part 5 Feb. 24, 2021, 4:16 p.m.

must have developed in something of a vacuum,
发展而来这个观点作结
but the idea that the Japanese
但日本人是否曾经
were ever completely isolated is a myth.
完全与世隔绝还是个谜
It was official policy that Japan should be a closed country,
官方政策称日本是一个封闭的国家
but the Japanese were never completely cut off
但日本人从未完全与外界阻隔
from the outside world or from the influences
也依然能接受来自其他文明的
and the ideas of other civilisations.
观念和影响
The Japanese became instead the masters of controlled contact,
于是日本人成为精通如何控制联♥系♥的民族
permitting only modest exchanges with a few favoured nations.
只允许跟少数有特权的国家进行适当贸易
Tiny Dejima island in the middle of Nagasaki harbour
小小的出岛位于长崎海湾中
was home to Dutch merchants,
是荷兰商人的所在地
the only Europeans permitted to trade with Japan.
他们是唯一被允许同日本进行贸易的欧洲人
The Dutch were tolerated
荷兰人被允许进行贸易的
partly because they were far more interested in trade
部分原因是他们对贸易本身
than religious conversion,
比对传教更感兴趣
but also because they willingly bowed the knee to the Shogun,
但也因为他们愿意对幕府将军低头哈腰
acknowledging him as their master.
把他看作自己的主人
This relationship allowed the Dutch
这种贸易关系使得荷兰人
to import European innovations in art and science
将欧洲的艺术科学创新
into mainland Japan.
带入了日本大♥陆♥
One popular scientific curiosity would have
对科学的普遍好奇心
an unexpected impact upon Japanese art.
会对日本艺术产生预料之外的影响
An optical device which the Japanese called Dutch glasses
被日本人称为荷兰镜的光学装置
was at first considered a frivolous western plaything.
最初被看作无聊的西方小玩意
When viewed through its convex lens,
通过凸透镜观察
specially painted landscapes,
遵照欧式透视原理
using European rules of perspective,
特别绘制的风景
would appear more three-dimensional.
就会显得更加立体
Especially when compared with the flat, decorative style
与官方认可的平面装饰性主流艺术风格
of Japan's dominant, state-sanctioned school of art.
相对比便更显别致
One painter of Dutch glass landscapes called Maruyama Okyo
一位名叫圆山应举的荷兰镜风景画家
shrewdly focused on revered Japanese subjects,
很有眼光地专攻备受尊崇的日本主题
like the medieval Hollyhock Festival,
例如中世纪的葵祭
infusing them with a new sense of depth.
并为其赋予了新的深度
Soon his reputation grew.
他很快便声名鹊起
Okyo began to win more serious commissions.
圆山开始获得更郑重的委托
On a pair of temple screens,
他在一对寺庙屏风上
he painted bamboo with more delicately observed naturalism
绘制的竹子精巧自然栩栩如生
than anything yet seen in Japanese art.
在日本艺术史上绝无仅有
On one side, buffeted by the wind...
一侧修竹迎风而立
On the other, in the rain,
另一侧雨打竹枝
heavily laden and still.
饱受摧残却依然坚韧挺拔
But it was for his masterpiece
但日本艺术史上
that Okyo combined everything he knew
最美的旷世佳作之一
from both eastern and western traditions
却源于圆山对所掌握的
in one of the most breathtakingly beautiful
东西方传统风格的
of all Japanese works.
融会贯通
It's so subtle, so minimal a work of art
它如此精致又如此简洁
that it almost feels like it isn't there,
让人几乎无迹可寻
and everything about it feels ephemeral and frail.
拥有一种短暂而脆弱之美
It's painted on paper, not canvas as in the west,
此作绘于纸上而不是西方所用的帆布
and great expanses of it are just white, blank areas
大面♥积♥的留白中空无一物
that seem almost untouched by the artist,
就好像作者未动一笔
and yet all of that belies the fact
但它却是我所知的
that this is one of the most sophisticated works
意蕴最深刻复杂的
of cultural synthesis that I know.
文化融合作品
It shows a sheet of ice, presumably on a lake,
画中是一层薄冰可能是在湖面上
and these broken, jagged cracks in the ice
冰上参差不齐的裂痕
disappear into the mist.
消失在薄雾中
The effect is three-dimensional space.
这种处理展现出立体空间的效果
Now, that is European vanishing-point perspective,
它采用了欧式消失点透视法
and yet this, one of Okyo's masterworks,
但圆山的这幅杰作
just could not be more Japanese,
却蕴含着浓浓的日本精神
because it's a philosophical contemplation
因为它表达了对佛教中
of two concepts fundamental to Buddhism -
两大基本概念的哲学思考
imperfection and impermanence.
缺憾与无常
Imperfection because these lines
缺憾是因为这些线条
are uncontrolled and irregular, and impermanence
是不受控制且不规则的而无常
because, of course, the ice will melt.
是因为冰终将融化
And those two concepts are just as fundamental
这两个概念在日本艺术中的根本地位
to Japanese art as the classical Greek-Roman ideas
相当于古希腊-罗马对美与无缺的经典理念
of beauty and perfection are to European art,
在欧洲艺术中的地位
so this is Okyo incorporating European ideas into his art,
所以圆山在这幅作品中吸收了欧式理念
but in ways that are in keeping
但同时也保持了
with Japanese philosophy and Japanese tastes.
日式哲学与审美品味
This synthesis of east and west was only possible
没有日本与荷兰之间
because of the tiny trading bottleneck
小小的贸易瓶颈
between Japan and Holland.
这样的东西结合是不可能发生的
Yet from the Dutch point of view,
而在荷兰人眼中
it was just one of many global trading partnerships.
这只是众多全球贸易合作关系之一
It gave the tiny Dutch Republic an influence
这使小小的荷兰共和国拥有
that was way out of proportion with its size.
与国土面♥积♥完全不成比例的巨大影响
Dutch merchants grew rich supplying their clients
荷兰商人向海外客户供货而获利
abroad and back home with the goods they wanted,
之后带着自己想要的货物返回国内
as well as with new and exotic goods
同时带来了自己也没想到的
they hadn't even known they wanted.
新鲜的异国奇珍
At the very centre of this vast, intercontinental network
在这覆盖甚广的洲际贸易基地网络
of trading bases and this web of shipping routes
与运输航路的中心
lay the city of Amsterdam.
就坐落着阿姆斯特丹
In the Dutch golden age of the 17th century,
十七世纪是荷兰的黄金年代
Amsterdam was one enormous market -
阿姆斯特丹就是规模巨大的市场
everything and anything was being bought and sold here.
商品琳琅满目交易热火朝天
When the French philosopher Descartes
当法国哲学家笛卡尔在十七世纪三十年代
arrived in the 1630s, he described it as a city
来到这里时他将这个城市描述为
where all of the commodities and all of the curiosities
这里可以买♥♥到你想要的任何货物
that one could wish for could be bought.
你所能想象的任何奇珍异品
So, whereas the Japanese had tried to block out the wider world,
正当日本人对外部世界唯恐避之而不及时
their Dutch trading partners couldn't get enough of it.
他们的荷兰贸易伙伴却愈发乐此不疲
In Amsterdam, the Republic's wealthy merchants
在阿姆斯特丹共和国富有的商人们
built their grand, canalside villas
沿运河建起了豪华别♥墅♥
and filled them with the fruits of global trade.
里面藏满来自全球贸易的累累硕果
Blue and white Chinese pottery.
蓝白相间的中国瓷器
Japanese lacquerware, shipped from Nagasaki.
从长崎运来的日本漆器
Their fine clothes were made of silk from Persia.
华美的服饰由波斯的绸缎缝就
Their exquisite tableware,
精致的餐具
crafted from New World gold and silver...
由新大♥陆♥的金银
Or exotic shells and coconuts.
或异国的贝壳与椰子精制而成
And to serve the Dutch their fine wines, enslaved African boys,
非洲来的奴隶男童为荷兰人斟上美酒
who became one of the great fashions of the age among the rich.
成了那个时代富人圈中的风尚
Amsterdam was the testing ground for modern capitalism.
阿姆斯特丹是现代资本主义的先行试验区
Through its stock exchange,
通过证券交易
the Dutch East India Company
荷兰东印度公♥司♥
became the world's first publicly traded company.
成为世界上首个公开上市交易的公♥司♥
Now anyone could own shares in Holland's global enterprise.
现在任何人都可以持有荷兰国际企业的股份
And in this frenzy of moneymaking, Dutch art too was commodified.
在这赚钱狂潮中荷兰的艺术也被商品化
The modern art market was born,
现代艺术品市场诞生了
supplying whatever subjects the new,
为成为新贵的商人阶级提供
aspirational merchant class wanted.
他们想要的一切
And what they wanted in their art
他们在艺术品中追求的并不是
was not the pomp of monarchy
君主政体的盛况
or the flamboyance of the Catholic faith.
亦或是天主教信仰的绚烂
Instead, they wanted to see a reflection of themselves.
反而希望看到的是自己的映像
Proud republicans, who had worked hard
是那些积极努力而享有财富的
for the new wealth they enjoyed.
骄傲的共和国人♥民♥
As ordinary Dutch citizens went about their ordinary lives,
我们很难从普通荷兰人的日常生活中
it's difficult to know
得知他们
how connected they felt to their overseas empire.
与海外的贸易帝国有多么紧密相连
While thousands of men and women set sail
在无数男女
with the Dutch trading companies
为了到海外发财致富
to seek their fortunes abroad,
跟随荷兰贸易公♥司♥远航的同时