Academic Work

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Art & Empire

My first book, Landscape of Empire, examines the relationship between Jesuit painting, state ritual, and foreign relations at the eighteenth-century Chinese court. Why were Jesuit painters commissioned to paint elaborate landscapes for the ritual halls used to host Mongol visitors? How did the Qianlong Emperor adapt the Jesuit approach to history painting to serve his political needs?

Read my article, “Taxonomy of Empire”

Birds & Flowers

I am broadly interested in the relationship between natural history and the Qing court. How did the collection, documentation, and consumption of exotic animals and plants support Qing empire? Why were court artists commissioned to paint life sized representations of these same flora and fauna for display within the court?

Read my article, “The Invisible, Ever Present Past”

Landscape/Photography

In what ways does contemporary Chinese photography relate to the tradition of Chinese landscape painting? How do photographs connect real landscapes to depicted or imagined ones?

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Art & Time

How was time encoded and represented in traditional Chinese art? How did eighteenth-century court artists adapt techniques from Jesuit religious art to express distinctly Chinese notions about time?

Dispatches from the Field

Wow! What a collection. Glad to be back for a visit.
So. Many. Eagles. Final research push before Peter Perdue’s retirement conference next week. Also shown: antique bottles found on the reef bed in Bermuda; birdcage from Sichuan (in desperate need of oil); rainy backyard.
Highlights from a beautiful afternoon at the studio of Arnold Chang. Here I am nervously receiving critique on my practice painting (1) and looking at a phonebook of C.C. Wang's calligraphy (2). The corrected painting, warts and all, is enclosed (3).
I had hoped to post one photo like this each week all last semester, but I ran out of steam. Classes are over, but I had to grab this (old but still occasionally relevant) book from my office. I also brought a new piece of calligraphy to ironically a
Ding Guanpeng at @artsmia Thanks for hosting our viewing session today!
Spring is here, and as @insta_jams would say, it's silk scarf weather. Here's a beautiful spring trench by @mitsumine_mens_official paired with a scarf by White's of New Haven. The bottle green jacket and OCBD are vintage @brooksbrothers, and the tie
I taught four classes this morning, starting at 8 am. Today's schedule reminded me of my teaching duties during Peace Corps, so I wore my beloved 天山路中學 teacher's pin. It's paired with a classic mustard corduroy jacket and (non oxford cloth) button do
Sure, it snowed this morning. But temperatures above 30 degrees herald the arrival of spring. Also bow ties. This perfectly frumpy Harris Tweed jacket was tailored at the Princeton Clothing Company in 1967. Shirt and bow by J Press. It's teatime; c
Not gonna lie - I'm feeling a little tired today. Nevertheless, the sun is out and I tried to summon vernal energy with my sartorial choices alone. Thematically, I probably should be holding Ping Foong's excellent book on Guo Xi, but we're on to the
It's a whopping 26 degrees here and class at the Weisman Art Museum was really interesting. Could that be optimism that I feel? These balmy temperatures mean that my fur overcoat can rest in a closet today. Instead, I'm sporting a formal 1940's Brook
Happy St. Valentine's Day! This old Blackwatch jacket pairs well with a nice moleskin vest, J Press knit tie, and Brooks Brothers OCBD. Which hasn't been buttoned down because I was in a rush to get to class. Fight me.
It's 6 degrees outside. I'm ready to walk to my car. Fun fact: my Leica battery won't function outside when it's this cold. This custom coat by Morty Sills is fully lined in mink by Georges Kaplan. I got it third hand; the second owner, a Hasidic Jew
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Art Consulting