Although Ming China was largely inaccessible to outsiders during the sixteenth century, myriad goods washed into the European market via newly established maritime trade routes. China was of particular interest to Europeans as a country that had attained quasi-mythical status through travel narratives such as Marco Polo's tenacious account; it was believed to have superior technological prowess in manufacturing materials such as ceramics and silk, and to be a land of vast natural abundance. Yet, despite the panoply of commodities, there was a remarkable absence of images illustrating China in cinquecento Italy, which was a period that valued accurately naturalistic visual rendering of the natural world.

This dissertation argues that imported Chinese goods augmented travel accounts, acting as surrogate ambassadors by representing a place that fascinated Europeans; moreover, they served as catalysts for scientific, artistic, and medical innovation. The project is broken down by material, each chapter addressing the use and reception of one prominent import category: maps and travel narratives, porcelain, silk, and medicinals (or more colloquially "spices"). Interest in and imitation of Ming dynasty commodities was not restricted to Tuscany, but Florence provides a particularly keen lens through which to examine a larger phenomenon because interest in Chinese imports left a most material residue: Francesco de' Medici, the second Grand Duke of Tuscany demonstrated a dedication to replicating china by founding a porcelain factory at tremendous expense. Taking the Medici Porcelain works factory as a starting point, this research ultimately shows that it was frequently the blanks or 'gaps' in knowledge that opened space for the most creative responses. As a place that at once provided material inspiration while at the same time remaining elusive, China engendered an assiduous inquisitiveness: curiosity in the modern sense.