Le bol de Chine; ou, divagations sur les beaux-arts

The essays argue for the primacy of touch in aesthetic experience, using close readings of objects—a simple glazed Chinese bowl, a bronze bust, and examples from painting and sculpture—to show how tactile awareness reveals volume, weight, and intimate knowledge that language and sight often overlook. The author critiques modern visual-centered art and literature for impoverishing tactile vocabulary, links this deficit to certain artistic trends, and calls for renewed attention to haptic perception as foundational to other senses, offering meditative vignettes and critical reflections on technique, sensation, and the limits of verbal expression.