SCAS News - 1 June, 2016
New Book by Former SCAS Fellow Maris Gillette
China's Porcelain Capital: The Rise, Fall and Reinvention of Ceramics
in Jingdezhen,
written by
former SCAS Fellow Maris Gillette, was recently published by Bloomsbury Academic (2016).
Maris Boyd Gillette is E. Desmond Lee Professor of Museum Studies and Community History, and
Director of the Museum Studies programme at University of Missouri, St. Louis. She was a EURIAS
Fellow in residence at the Swedish Collegium in the academic year 2013-14.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
'Maris Gillette's groundbreaking study tells the story of Jingdezhen, China's porcelain capital, from
its
origins in 1004 in Song dynasty China to the present day.
Gillette explores how Jingdezhen has been affected by state involvement in porcelain production,
particularly during the long 20th century. She considers how the Chinese government has consumed,
invested in, taxed and managed the local ceramics industry, and the effects of this state intervention
on ceramists' lives, their local environment and the nature of the goods they produce. Gillette traces
how Jingdezhen experienced the transition from imperial rule to state ownership under communism,
the changing fortunes of the ceramics industry in the early 21st century, the decay and decline that
accompanied privatisation, and a revival brought about by an entrepreneurial culture focusing on the
manufacture of highly-prized 'art porcelain''.
Read more about the book
Read more about Maris Gillette
