Page 221 - A Re-examination of Late Qing Dynasty Porcelain, 1850-1920 THESIS

3.10 Conclusion

An analysis of late dynastic porcelain into the early republic would not be

possible without evaluating British collections. Historically, the British fascination with

Chinese porcelain created a groundwork from which world-class collections were

th
cultivated. Even into the 20 century the British royal family continued to collect
Chinese porcelain in connection with the long lineage of historic royal collecting. Rooms

specially designed for Chinese porcelain emerged within Buckingham Palace around the

th
turn of the 20 century, with surviving photos documenting what would become known

as the Small Chinese Room (Figure 87). Following this legacy, Queen Mary (1867–

1953), the consort of King George V revealed interest in expanding the British Royal

Collection Trust rooms within Buckingham Palace even further to include a Japanese

Room, Lacquer Room, and Chinese Chippendale Room. These rooms included Chinese

porcelain, adding to the ideas about the importance of porcelain collecting established as

early as Mary II. The Asian holdings of the Royal Collection Trust have only recently

begun to be evaluated, with a cataloging project led by John Ayers in 2016 being the first

to explore the Asian collection in its entirety. The catalog provides an overview of what

was gifted and collected by the British monarchs, allowing for the first time a

comprehensive understanding of the long history of British collecting of Asian

artifacts. 283 It is this legacy that documents insight into the Chinese porcelain of late

dynastic China, providing pieces of porcelain of imperial caliber that were not previously

thought to exist.

283 See John Ayers, Chinese and Japanese Works of Art: In the Collection of Her Majesty The
Queen (London: The Royal Collection Trust), 2016.

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