Date: Tuesday 8 April 2025
Registration: 6:30 – 7:00pm
Lecture: 7:00 – 8:00pm
Dinner: 8:00pm
Place: Edinburgh Room, The Hong Kong Club
Lecture only: $200 Members; $250 Non-members
Lecture & Dinner: $1,200 Members; $1,300 Non-members
*Please note that dinner reservations can only be confirmed upon payment and will be closed a week prior to the event. Please contact us to reserve a place.
The Oriental Ceramic Society of Hong Kong is delighted to welcome Dr Stacey Pierson to present a talk on ‘Design, Style and Function: the Impact of Buddhism on Chinese Ceramics’.
This lecture examines the transformative impact of Buddhism on Chinese ceramics. Beginning with the earliest representations of the Buddha on southern burial jars following the introduction of Buddhism into China, the lecture then considers the development of sancai figurines, ‘secret colour’ celadons, the eight Buddhist emblems on Ming imperial porcelain and the elaborate Tibetan Buddhist forms and decoration on 18th– century enamelled wares. The significant but underexplored role of Buddhism in the development of Chinese ceramics from the 3rd century to the late Qing period will be revealed through examples recovered from archaeological sites, temples, tombs and museum collections.
Dr Stacey Pierson is Professor of the History of Chinese Ceramics at SOAS, University of London. In addition to teaching and supervising research students in the School of Arts, she is President of the Oriental Ceramic Society (London) and series editor for the Routledge title Histories of Material Culture and Collecting, 1550-1950. Previously, from 1995 – 2007, she was Curator of the Percival David Foundation of Chinese art, also at the University of London, which housed the world-renowned David collection of Chinese ceramics. She has published widely on aspects of Chinese ceramics and the history of collecting and exhibitions, including Collectors, Collections and Museums: the Field of Chinese Ceramics in Britain: 1560-1960 (2007), Chinese Ceramics: a Design History (2009), From Object to Concept: Global Consumption and the Transformation of Ming Porcelain (2013), Private Collecting, Exhibitions and the Shaping of Art History in London: the Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1866-1950 (2017) and the edited volume Visual, Material and Textual Cultures of Food and Drink in China, 200 BCE – 1900 CE, Colloquies on Art and Archaeology in Asia, no. 25 (2022).
We remind members to abide by the Hong Kong Club’s smart dress code for guests: Business Smart (Jeans, T-shirts, tracksuits, shorts, shoes for sports activities and flip-flops are not acceptable. No denim may be worn at any time in the Club.)
Image: Dish with underglaze blue decoration, Ming dynasty, Chenghua mark and period. PDF B627. Copyright SOAS All rights reserved.