Page 37 - A Re-examination of Late Qing Dynasty Porcelain, 1850-1920 THESIS

by Ying-chen Peng evaluated Cixi’s involvement in the arts. Both studies establish new

perspectives on porcelain production during the late Qing. However, it is evident that a

broad understanding of porcelain from this time is still necessary. Institutions such as the

British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Phoenix Art Museum have

now exhibited more works from this era broadening the amount of porcelain available for

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study. Therefore, it is critical to once again reevaluate early 20 -century porcelain

utilizing new objects that present a more extensive perspective of the field. This research

takes the theories presented by Van Oort and updates them by evaluating previously

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unstudied porcelain from the early 20 century. Recent scholarship by Simon Kwan,
Imperial Porcelain of Late Qing, focuses specifically on wares produced around the

Hongxian period and extending into the Republic.

Due to the global historical appeal of porcelain, objects dating to this era traveled

outside of China’s borders. Private collections provide limited access to the porcelain;

however, some collectors have published photographs of their collections. The

collections at the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum offer the most

objects that fall within the time period investigated by this study. Along with these

objects, a few holdings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Ashmolean Museum

of Art and Archaeology at Oxford create a grouping of porcelain from the reign of Cixi

through the reign of Yuan Shikai.

Methodology

The methodology for this study includes research of kiln documentation, literary

analysis of secondary sources and museum visitation to analyze porcelain attributed to

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