Editing Antiquarian (section)

==History==
===Antiquarianism in ancient China===
{{see also|History of Chinese archaeology|Shen Kuo}}

During the [[Song dynasty]] (960–1279), the scholar [[Ouyang Xiu]] (1007–1072) analyzed alleged ancient artefacts bearing archaic [[Chinese bronze inscriptions|inscriptions in bronze and stone]], which he preserved in a collection of some 400 [[rubbing (art)|rubbing]]s.<ref name="clunas">[[Craig Clunas|Clunas, Craig]]. (2004). ''Superfluous Things: Material Culture and Social Status in Early Modern China''. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. {{ISBN|0-8248-2820-8}}. p. 95.</ref> [[Patricia Buckley Ebrey|Patricia Ebrey]] writes that Ouyang pioneered early ideas in [[epigraphy]].<ref>Ebrey, Patricia Buckley (1999). ''The Cambridge Illustrated History of China''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0-521-66991-X}}, p. 148.</ref>

The {{Transliteration|zh|Kaogutu}} ({{Lang-zh|c=考古圖|labels=no}}) or "Illustrated Catalogue of Examined Antiquity" (preface dated 1092) compiled by Lü Dalin ({{Lang-zh|c=呂大臨|labels=no}}) (1046–1092) is one of the oldest known [[Collection catalog|catalogues]] to systematically describe and classify ancient artefacts which were unearthed.<ref name="hist">Trigger, Bruce G. (2006). ''A History of Archaeological Thought: Second Edition''. New York: Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0-521-84076-7}}. p. 74.</ref> Another catalogue was the {{Transliteration|zh|Chong xiu Xuanhe bogutu}} ({{Lang-zh|c=重修宣和博古圖|labels=no}}) or "Revised Illustrated Catalogue of Xuanhe Profoundly Learned Antiquity" (compiled from 1111 to 1125), commissioned by [[Emperor Huizong of Song]] (r. 1100–1125), and also featured illustrations of some 840 vessels and rubbings.<ref name="clunas"/><ref name="hist"/>

Interests in antiquarian studies of ancient inscriptions and artefacts waned after the Song dynasty, but were revived by early [[Qing dynasty]] (1644–1912) scholars such as [[Gu Yanwu]] (1613–1682) and [[Yan Ruoju]] (1636–1704).<ref name="hist"/>

===Antiquarianism in ancient Rome===
In [[ancient Rome]], a strong [[mos maiorum|sense of traditionalism]] motivated an interest in studying and recording the "monuments" of the past; the [[Augustan literature (ancient Rome)|Augustan]] historian [[Livy]] uses the Latin {{Lang|la|monumenta}} in the sense of "antiquarian matters."<ref>Livy, ''Ab Urbe Condita'' 7.3.7: cited also in the ''[[Oxford Latin Dictionary]]'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982, 1985 reprinting), p. 1132, entry on ''monumentum'', as an example of meaning 4b, "recorded tradition."</ref> Books on antiquarian topics covered such subjects as the origin of customs, [[Religion in ancient Rome|religious rituals]], and [[Roman constitution|political institutions]]; [[genealogy]]; [[topography]] and landmarks; and [[etymology]]. [[Annals]] and [[Roman historiography|histories]] might also include sections pertaining to these subjects, but annals are chronological in structure, and [[Roman historiography|Roman histories]], such as those of Livy and [[Tacitus]], are both chronological and offer an overarching narrative and interpretation of events. By contrast, antiquarian works as a literary form are organised by topic, and any narrative is short and illustrative, in the form of [[anecdote]]s.

Major antiquarian [[Latin literature|Latin writers]] with surviving works include [[Varro]], [[Pliny the Elder]], [[Aulus Gellius]], and [[Macrobius]]. The Roman emperor [[Claudius]] published antiquarian works, none of which is extant. Some of [[Cicero]]'s treatises, particularly [[De Divinatione|his work on divination]], show strong antiquarian interests, but their primary purpose is the exploration of philosophical questions. Roman-era [[Ancient Greek literature|Greek writers]] also dealt with antiquarian material, such as [[Plutarch]] in his ''[[Moralia|Roman Questions]]''<ref>At [[LacusCurtius]], Bill Thayer presents an edition of the ''[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Moralia/Roman_Questions*/home.html Roman Questions] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230108172941/https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Moralia/Roman_Questions%2A/home.html |date=8 January 2023 }}'' based on the [[Loeb Classical Library]] translation. Thayer's edition can be browsed question-by-question in tabulated form, with direct links to individual topics.</ref> and the ''[[Deipnosophistae]]'' of [[Athenaeus]]. The aim of Latin antiquarian works is to collect a great number of possible explanations, with less emphasis on arriving at a truth than in compiling the evidence. The antiquarians are often used as sources by the ancient historians, and many antiquarian writers are known only through these citations.<ref>This overview of Roman antiquarianism is based on [[T.P. Wiseman]], ''Clio's Cosmetics'' (Bristol: Phoenix Press, 2003, originally published 1979 by Leicester University Press), pp. 15–15, 45 ''et passim''; and ''A Companion to Latin Literature'', edited by Stephen Harrison (Blackwell, 2005), pp. 37–38, 64, 77, 229, 242–244 ''et passim''.</ref>

[[File:Antiquaries; twenty portraits of historians. Engraving by J. Wellcome V0006811.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.08|"Antiquaries": portraits of 20 influential antiquaries and historians published in [[George Crabb (writer)|Crabb]]'s ''Universal Historical Dictionary'' (1825). Featured are: [[Giraldus Cambrensis]], [[John Leland (antiquary)|John Leland]], [[Guido Panciroli]], [[John Stow]], [[William Camden]], [[Justus Lipsius]], [[Joseph Justus Scaliger]], [[Johannes Meursius]], [[Hubert Goltzius]], [[Henry Spelman]], [[Charles Patin]], [[Philipp Clüver]], [[William Dugdale]], [[Claudius Salmasius]], [[Friedrich Spanheim]], [[Johann Georg Graevius]], [[Jakob Gronovius]], [[Thomas Hearne (antiquarian)|Thomas Hearne]], [[John Strype]], and [[Elias Ashmole]].]]

===Medieval and early modern antiquarianism===
{{further|History of archaeology}}
Despite the importance of antiquarian writing in the [[Latin literature|literature of ancient Rome]], some scholars view antiquarianism as emerging only in the [[Middle Ages]].<ref name=Daly-35>{{Cite book|title=Egyptology: The Missing Millennium : Ancient Egypt in Medieval Arabic Writings|first=Okasha|last=El Daly|publisher=[[Routledge]]|year=2004|isbn=1-84472-063-2|page=35 }}</ref> Medieval antiquarians sometimes made collections of inscriptions or records of monuments, but the Varro-inspired concept of {{Lang|la|antiquitates}} among the Romans as the "systematic collections of all the [[relic]]s of the past" faded.<ref>[[Arnaldo Momigliano]], "Ancient History and the Antiquarian," ''Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes'' 13 (1950), p. 289.</ref> Antiquarianism's wider flowering is more generally associated with the [[Renaissance]], and with the critical assessment and questioning of [[Classical antiquity|classical]] texts undertaken in that period by [[Renaissance humanism|humanist]] scholars. [[Textual criticism]] soon broadened into an awareness of the supplementary perspectives on the past which could be offered by the study of [[Numismatics|coins]], [[Epigraphy|inscriptions]] and other archaeological remains, as well as documents from medieval periods.  Antiquaries often formed collections of these and other objects; [[cabinet of curiosities]] is a general term for early collections, which often encompassed antiquities and more recent art, items of natural history, [[memorabilia]] and items from far-away lands.

[[Image:William Camden Clarenceux.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[William Camden]] (1551–1623), author of the ''Britannia'', wearing the [[tabard]] and [[chain of office]] of [[Clarenceux King of Arms]]. Originally published in the 1695 edition of ''Britannia''.]]
The importance placed on [[ancestor|lineage]] in [[Early modern period|early modern]] Europe meant that antiquarianism was often closely associated with [[genealogy]], and a number of prominent antiquaries (including [[Robert Glover (officer of arms)|Robert Glover]], [[William Camden]], [[William Dugdale]] and [[Elias Ashmole]]) held office as professional [[herald]]s. The development of genealogy as a "[[Scientific method|scientific]]" discipline (i.e. one that rejected unsubstantiated legends, and demanded high standards of proof for its claims) went hand-in-hand with the development of antiquarianism. Genealogical antiquaries recognised the evidential value for their researches of non-textual sources, including [[Seal (emblem)|seals]] and [[church monuments]].

Many [[Early modern period|early modern]] antiquaries were also [[Chorography|chorographers]]: that is to say, they recorded landscapes and monuments within regional or national descriptions. In England, some of the most important of these took the form of [[English county histories|county histories]].

In the context of the 17th-century [[scientific revolution]], and more specifically that of the  "[[Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns]]" in England and France, the antiquaries were firmly on the side of the "Moderns".<ref name="Levine, Battle of the Books">Levine, ''Battle of the Books''.</ref> They increasingly argued that empirical [[Primary source|primary]] evidence could be used to refine and challenge the received interpretations of history handed down from literary authorities.

===19th–21st centuries===
[[File:Pit Mead Roman villa mosaic, illustration by Catherine Downes.jpg|thumb|Pit Mead Roman villa mosaic, illustrations by [[Catherine Downes]], engraved by [[James Basire]] and presented to the SAL by [[Daines Barrington]]]]
By the end of the 19th century, antiquarianism had diverged into a number of more specialised academic disciplines including [[archaeology]], [[art history]], [[numismatics]], [[sigillography]], [[philology]], [[Literary criticism|literary studies]] and [[diplomatics]]. Antiquaries had always attracted a degree of ridicule (see [[#Pejorative associations|below]]), and since the mid-19th century the term has tended to be used most commonly in negative or derogatory contexts. Nevertheless, many practising antiquaries continue to claim the title with pride. In recent years, in a scholarly environment in which [[interdisciplinarity]] is increasingly encouraged, many of the established antiquarian societies (see [[#Antiquarian societies|below]]) have found new roles as facilitators for collaboration between specialists.