Hi all
Bruce Rusk, Associate Professor at University of British Columbia, will be speaking at UT this Friday, sponsored by Asian Studies. He is a history professor, but has a strong interest in material culture, including texts and reign marks, seal-like indications of the imperial reign period in which an object was supposedly made. Below is a short description of his talk. This could be interesting beyond the history of Chinese art for how it touches upon the theme of authenticity of objects.
Seals of Appraisal: Inventing and Reinventing the Reign Mark in Late Imperial China
Friday, April 5, 4 pm
Art & Architecture 113
Many decorative objects produced in Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) imperial workshops bear short inscriptions identifying them with the reign of the current monarch. Despite the ubiquity and uniformity of these marks across media--metal, lacquer, enamel, and most famously porcelain--their origin remains obscure. This presentation will examine how these short texts were interpreted both by their intended audience (mainly the ruling elite and foreign envoys) and by a broader market of consumers and connoisseurs. Although these symbols were devised for exclusivity, widespread copying eventually devalued and diffused their significance. They never lost all meaning, however: through imitation, reappropriation, and forgery, the reign mark grounded explorations of technique and form and new ways of imagining connections between artifacts and history.
Dr. Suzanne E. Wright
Associate Professor / Chair, Asian Studies
School of Art
University of Tennessee
1715 Volunteer Blvd.
Art & Architecture 416
Knoxville, TN 37996
865-974-4267
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