Lecture/Book Launch
Stacey Pierson: Senior Lecturer, SOAS, University of London
From Object to Concept -
Global Consumption and the Transformation of Ming Porcelain
When? 18:00-19:30, Thursday, 25th April 2013
Where? Museum of East Asian Art, 12 Bennett Street, Bath BA1 2QJ
Tickets? £4 for public; £2.50 for Museum Friends and students
Please book and pay by Tuesday, 23rd April by calling 01225 464640 |
| Book cover |
This book examines the impact of consumption on porcelain of the Ming period and its transformation into a foreign cultural icon. The book begins with an examination of ways in which porcelain was appreciated in Ming China, followed by a discussion of encounters with Ming porcelain in several global regions including Europe and the Americas. The book also looks at the invention of the phrase and concept of 'the Ming vase' in English-speaking cultures, and concludes with a history of the transformation of Ming porcelain into works of art.
'The book has an impressive historical scope, from the 14th to the 21st century. Secondly, it ranges over a variety of interesting topics relevant to the history of a famous commodity - in addition to discussing the economic production, social use, and reception of Ming porcelain throughout the world, it has a novel and often amusing account on the treatment of Ming porcelain in modern popular UK and US culture.
It presents an extensive coverage of recent English-language work on Chinese porcelain, and attempts to put the study of Ming, and by extension Chinese, porcelain in a wider conceptual framework, that of transcultural shifts in the use and meaning of art objects.'
Joseph P. McDermott, University of Cambridge
