A Voyage of Discovery—Collecting Chinese Books, Paintings, Calligraphy, Ceramics, and Figural Arts

John and Julia Curtis

The Curtises' collection is distinguished by both breadth and depth. The combination of John's love of antiquarian books and Julia's focus on transitional period ceramics has led to their amassing a truly detailed knowledge of the scholarly interests and painterly styles in late Ming and early Qing dynasty China.

Both their conversation with Curator Ronald Otsuka and the workshop the following day were well illustrated with slides of objects in their collection and numerous anecdotes relating intriguing connections between the objects. Their painstaking research has confirmed evidence of literati-gentry involvement in commissioning ceramics from the kilns at Jingdezhen, as Ming imperial patronage there declined. Julia vividly described how the poems and narrative decoration on these ceramics reflected the undercurrents of disaffection amongst scholars and their desire to escape the growing chaos of the time—in the example of one brush pot from 1636 the image depicted was really "political cartoon on porcelain."

For the workshop attendees, the opportunity to view close-up a number of the museum's transitional period ceramics was made doubly welcome by the Curtises' on-the-spot commentary. Julia was able to give not only a precise dating and a clear description of the probable meaning of the decoration, but also a comparison of the objects with other works known to her. For anyone who might have felt that there was often no way to tell one piece of Ming or Qing blue-and-white from another, this was an invaluable lesson.

To enrich their "voyage of discovery," the Curtises' collection of art books has been invaluable. The vast body of literature on Chinese art, history, and culture has given them almost as many revelations as direct contact with the prints, paintings, and ceramics of the time. Thanks to their multiple perspectives, they truly understand and appreciate both the meaning and the value of the objects in their collection.



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