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Calligraphy, or the art of writing, has been revered in China since antiquity. It is an aesthetically pleasing, personally expressive visual art form and also simultaneously serves as a form of written communication. Calligraphy studies usually focus on brush writing on silk or paper scrolls, which quantitatively comprise the most common medium for calligraphy and reflect the highest caliber of writing. Yet ceramics also have a long history of being inscribed with calligraphy. Used as tableware, implements on a scholar’s desk, or interior decorations, inscribed ceramics put calligraphy on display and incorporate the art form into everyday life. In this talk, curator Jan Stuart presents some of the fascinating dimensions of writing on ceramics, touching upon content, methods, tools and the agents of writing, and stylistic effects. NMAA's ceramic collections include works inscribed with religious dedications, lyrical poetry, and an emperor’s political polemic, as well as calligraphed dates or, for imperial works, “reign marks” written in stately court style.

This talk is part of the monthly lunchtime series Sneak Peek: New Research from the National Museum of Asian Art, where staff members present brief, personal perspectives and ongoing research, followed by discussion. This year, the online series focuses on the theme of word and image—including calligraphy, seals, inscriptions, manuals, narratives, and poetry—in the collections of the National Museum of Asian Art.

Jan Stuart is the Melvin R. Seiden Curator of Chinese Art at the National Museum of Asian Art. She focuses on arts from the tenth century to the present. Currently, she is working on a book about Chinese ceramics in the museum’s Freer Gallery of Art and recently curated an exhibition about Chinese lacquer screens with two conservators. She cocurated and coedited the exhibition and catalogue Empresses of China’s Forbidden City, 1644–1912 in 2018–19. Between 2006 and 2014, she headed the Department of Asia at the British Museum.