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Timely Flowers: Seasonal Imagery and its Meaning in Chinese Paintings and Porcelain
Elsley Zeitlyn Lecture in Chinese Archaeology and Culture 2009
Jan Stuart
5.30pm, 3 DECEMBER 2009
10 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH
In Imperial China, marking the passage of time was an essential theme in the choice of imagery used on many types of art object, including scroll paintings and decorated porcelains. This was especially true of flowers, which have often been analyses in terms of their value in forming auspicious rebuses, but to the neglect of their special significance in marking festivals and annual or monthly rituals that charted the calendrical cycle and invited the good will of the spirit world. Attending to the seasonal functions of art objects, used by many levels of society, helps us understand how the visual arts were folded into the abiding rhythms of nature and human culture in China.
About the Speaker
Jan Stuart has been Keeper of the British Museum's Department of Asia since October 2006 and before that was a curator of Chinese art at the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, which together constitute the national museum of Asian art in the United States and are part of the Smithsonian Institution. Her most recent project at the British Museum has been overseeing a new permanent display for Chinese ceramics - the Sir Percival David Collection gallery, part of the Museum's new Sir Joseph Hotung Centre for Ceramic Studies.
Elsley Zeitlyn Lecture in Chinese Archaeology and Culture 2009
This lecture series, established through a bequest from Myrtle Henrietta Zeitlyn in memory of her father, Elsley Zeitlyn, supports the understanding and appreciation of Chinese archaeology and culture.
Attendance
5.30-6.30pm, followed by a reception. Registration is not required for this event. Seats will be allocated on arrival.
Illustration: Twelve Jingdezhen month cups, underglaze cobalt oxide, overglaze enamels on porcelain with a clear glaze, Kangxi mark and period (1662-1722). Height 5cm, diameter 6.5cm. Photograph copyright: SOAS. All rights reserved.