Japanese Ceramics in the Collection of His Majesty King Charles III

The Macdonald Lecture
Speaker: Dr. Nicole Coolidge Rousmaniere, Research Director, Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures, and Professor of Japanese Art and Culture at the University of East Anglia, Norwich

Dr. Nicole Coolidge Rousmaniere will re-examine the Japanese ceramics and select urushi lacquer examples from Japan in the collection of King Charles III, overseen by the Royal Collection Trust. Such a re-examination has only recently been made possible because of an extraordinary exhibition curated by Rachel Peat entitled Japan: Courts and Cultures and held in the Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, with an accompanying catalogue.

In addition, a few years earlier, John Ayers published a seminal three-volume work titled Chinese and Japanese Works of Art in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen. This set of books records many of the East Asian ceramics in the collection and provides helpful information on their provenance.

The Japanese ceramics range from the 17th through the 20th century, with excellent examples of porcelain from major kilns. Of note are the high quality Kakiemon style wares, including iconic Hampton Court vases, named in reference to Queen Mary II and her passion for these delicately designed, colourful porcelains. One of the most recent Japanese ceramics in the collection is a magnificent stoneware jar by Hamada Shōji. The jar was a gift to Queen Elizabeth II from Prime Minister Miki Takeo during a 1975 state visit, and highlights the diplomatic roles that these dazzling works played.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Dr. Nicole Coolidge Rousmaniere is the founding Director and currently the Research Director of the Sainsbury Institute, and Professor of Japanese Art and Culture at the University of East Anglia, Norwich. She received her PhD from Harvard University in 1998. She was until recently the IFAC Handa Curator of Japanese Art in the Department of Asia, British Museum. She was the lead curator of the Crafting Beauty in Modern Japan (2007) and the Citi Exhibition Manga (2019), both held at the British Museum with publications from British Museum Press and Thames and Hudson respectively. She wrote Vessels of Influence, China and the Birth of Porcelain in Early Modern Japan and translated Tsuji Nobuo’s seminal work, A History of Art in Japan (2018, University of Tokyo Press and Columbia University Press).