Page 38 - A Re-examination of Late Qing Dynasty Porcelain, 1850-1920 THESIS

the period in question. The research completed during this process will document known

examples of the Empress Dowager’s porcelain along with Hongxian porcelain.

Evaluating the porcelain from this time period will show a clear progression of styles

over time, unifying the end of the Qing dynasty with the styles presented during the early

Republic. As research and the analysis of porcelain objects progresses, this study will

utilize an iconographic interpretation of the imagery discovered to solidify existing

connections. Examining iconographic meaning from the late Qing into the early

Republic will parallel the changes occurring in China as the culture moved towards

modernization.

After extensive research, it became evident that traveling to analyze collections

was required. I traveled to view an exhibition on the Empress Dowager at the Bowers

Museum. I also visited the collections at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the

Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library, the Peabody Essex Museum, the Art Museum

of San Francisco, and a private collection in Phoenix to gain a better visual understanding

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of porcelain dating to the 19 -20 centuries. After handling examples dating to the
period in question, it became clear that a wider grouping would be required to establish

trends associated with overall categorization. In the fall of 2018 I traveled to view the

holdings at the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Ashmolean

Museum of Art and Archaeology at Oxford and the Fitzwilliam Museum. The porcelain

observed during this research became the foundation for stylistically understanding the

wares of Cixi and Yuan.

This research is separated into three distinct chapters. The first chapter

establishes a biography of the Empress Dowager Cixi. Documentation of painting

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