From the Qing Court to the Museum Vitrine
This paper traces the hidden life story of the Yongzheng period (1723–1735) handscroll entitled Guwan tu 古玩圖 (Pictures of Ancient Playthings) from the Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum, London, with a particular focus on its itinerary after departing from China—a facet often overlooked in contem...
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University of Ljubljana Press (Založba Univerze v Ljubljani)
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Asian Studies |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.uni-lj.si/as/article/view/18411 |
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| author | Kexin Ma |
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| author_sort | Kexin Ma |
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This paper traces the hidden life story of the Yongzheng period (1723–1735) handscroll entitled Guwan tu 古玩圖 (Pictures of Ancient Playthings) from the Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum, London, with a particular focus on its itinerary after departing from China—a facet often overlooked in contemporary curatorial narratives. Primarily through an examination of the acquisition file housed in the V&A Archive, the paper reveals the network of individuals involved in and beyond the museum who played a role in purchasing the artwork since 1910. Furthermore, the paper delves into the dynamics surrounding the acquisition of artworks from British military officers during the 20th century, exploring the controversies inherent in such acquisitions. In turn, the paper reevaluates the contemporary display of the scroll, which prioritizes the painted subject matter, suggesting a correlation between the display method and the 20th century perception of the scroll as a visual reference for the study of Chinese objects. Through the lens of the scroll, the paper further sheds light on the subjectivity involved in contextualizing “orphaned” objects lost in context in museums. Building upon that, the paper proposes the significance of incorporating the itineraries of objects after they depart from their original findspots into museum narratives, which could offer a fuller understanding of the objects’ identities.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-31951acf1ead49979bfb26e8f4c50664 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2232-5131 2350-4226 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | University of Ljubljana Press (Založba Univerze v Ljubljani) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Asian Studies |
| spelling | doaj-art-31951acf1ead49979bfb26e8f4c506642025-01-16T08:19:38ZengUniversity of Ljubljana Press (Založba Univerze v Ljubljani)Asian Studies2232-51312350-42262025-01-0113110.4312/as.2025.13.1.263-287From the Qing Court to the Museum VitrineKexin Ma0SOAS University of London, United Kingdom This paper traces the hidden life story of the Yongzheng period (1723–1735) handscroll entitled Guwan tu 古玩圖 (Pictures of Ancient Playthings) from the Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum, London, with a particular focus on its itinerary after departing from China—a facet often overlooked in contemporary curatorial narratives. Primarily through an examination of the acquisition file housed in the V&A Archive, the paper reveals the network of individuals involved in and beyond the museum who played a role in purchasing the artwork since 1910. Furthermore, the paper delves into the dynamics surrounding the acquisition of artworks from British military officers during the 20th century, exploring the controversies inherent in such acquisitions. In turn, the paper reevaluates the contemporary display of the scroll, which prioritizes the painted subject matter, suggesting a correlation between the display method and the 20th century perception of the scroll as a visual reference for the study of Chinese objects. Through the lens of the scroll, the paper further sheds light on the subjectivity involved in contextualizing “orphaned” objects lost in context in museums. Building upon that, the paper proposes the significance of incorporating the itineraries of objects after they depart from their original findspots into museum narratives, which could offer a fuller understanding of the objects’ identities. https://journals.uni-lj.si/as/article/view/18411Guwan tuprovenanceofficial lootdisplay methodobject itineraries |
| spellingShingle | Kexin Ma From the Qing Court to the Museum Vitrine Asian Studies Guwan tu provenance official loot display method object itineraries |
| title | From the Qing Court to the Museum Vitrine |
| title_full | From the Qing Court to the Museum Vitrine |
| title_fullStr | From the Qing Court to the Museum Vitrine |
| title_full_unstemmed | From the Qing Court to the Museum Vitrine |
| title_short | From the Qing Court to the Museum Vitrine |
| title_sort | from the qing court to the museum vitrine |
| topic | Guwan tu provenance official loot display method object itineraries |
| url | https://journals.uni-lj.si/as/article/view/18411 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT kexinma fromtheqingcourttothemuseumvitrine |