Dear Friends on this list: I am forwarding the following conference
announcement for your information. For further information regarding
attending the conference, I suggest contacting the organizers:
 
Dr Bennet Bronson and Dr Ho Chui-mei
Anthropology Dept.,
Field Museum
Chicago 60605-2496, USA.
Tel. 312-922 9410 - 832.
or:
Asian Ceramic Research Organization (ACRO),
PO Box 595, Chicago, Illinois 60690-0595, USA.
 
- sincerely yours,
Magnus Fiskesjo
Dept. of Anthropology, and Dept. of East Asian
Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
 
Conference announcement follows:
 
* * *
 
        ASIAN CERAMICS: FUNCTIONS AND FORMS
 
        A conference at the Field Museum, Chicago, 24-26 May, 1996
 
Much can be learned about people and their societies by examining and
understanding articles used in their daily life. Ceramics provide an
especially informative view when looked at in anthropological as well as
artistic terms. This conference, "Asian Ceramics --Functions and Forms", will
feature papers from international specialists discussing the impact of
changing cultural influences on design, use and appreciation of Asian
ceramics during the last two thousand years.
 
Papers will focus on the following questions: What were some significant
milestones in the history of Asian ceramics? What driving forces were factors
in the attainment of these milestones? Which influences affected producers
and users? How did ideas, materials, designs and technology interact? We plan
to discuss these questions in terms of three themes:
 
Influence of Food and Drink
 
How did eating and drinking customs affect ceramics? How did ceramics fill
requirements for storage, preserving, shipping, preparing, serving, eating
and drinking? Did these vary over time and place? As an example, how were
vessels for storage, serving and drinking altered to accommodate the
introduction of Western grape wines and distilled spirits to East Asia?
 
How strongly do ceramic shapes and designs express cultural identities or
culturally specific purposes? Were the exuberant colors and designs of late
17th Japanese porcelain a function of enhancing the appeal of the rather
limited variety of foods eaten? How did white porcelain evolve as the
standard for Korean wares?
 
Effect of Religion and Ritual
 
What was the role of ceramics in Asian religious rites and rituals? Did this
role vary from religion to religion and country to country? For example, were
Indian style ceramics used in the same ritual way by Indonesians and Thais?
Was there any relationship between the ceramic altar sets and offerings used
by East and Southeast Asian Buddhists, Daoists, Christians and Hindus? What
caused Japanese participants in ceremonial tea drinking to seek and cherish
wares which might have been considered rejects in other Asian countries?
 
In early Asia, state and ceremonial gifts centered on precious materials and
skills. They often included ceramics. In what way does the recent practice of
American presidents giving Boehm ceramic birds to foreign dignitaries
resemble ancient customs of Chinese, Korean and Ryukyu rulers?
 
Importance of Collecting and Connoisseurship
 
Today ceramics are among the most studied, published and collected forms of
Asian art. When and how did they achieve this status?
 
Collectors, dealers and scholars have been the foundation for centuries of
Asian ceramic connisseurship. How have these people interacted? How has the
market for antique ceramics operated in the past and present? What influence
have collectors and connoisseurs had on the work of potters? What are the
differences between historical Asian and European collections? For instance:
old Yixing teawares are sought by collectors in both East and West but have
far less popular appeal in the West than blue and white pieces. 18th century
Chinese export armorial wares are now distinctive collectible wares in the
West but not China. Then too, Martaban jars --some of the earliest examples
of collecting in Southeast Asia-- are still prized in the Philippines but
virtually unknown amongst fanciers in China or Europe.
 
What problems other than forgery face collectors today ? Where do they find
trustworthy consultants and agents? What financial resources are needed? How
attractive are Asian ceramics as financial investments? Are contemporary
Asian ceramics appealing subjects for collection? What are the risks,
rewards, and caveats?
 
* * *
 
**Preliminary Speakers List 9/27/95**
 
Influence of Food and Drink
 
[ROBERT FAULKNER (Victoria and Alber Museum, London), Japanese Ceramic.]
 
KIM HONGNAM (Ewha Women's University, Seoul), "Yi Dynasty Wares in Korea"
 
MICHELE PIRAZZOLI-t'SERSTEVENS (Ecole Practique des Hautes Etudes, Paris),
"From the Ear-cup to the Round Cup, the Change in the Chinese Drinking
Vessels from the 2nd to the 6th Centuries A.D."
 
[WANG QINGZHENG (Shanghai Museum, China), "Chinese Ceramics and Their
Functions"]
 
ROBERT SAYERS (Individual Scholar), "The Three Changes: Belief and Meaning in
the Preparation of Three Korean Food Staples"
 
LAI SUK YEE (The Chinese University of Hong Kong), "Yixing Wares and Tea
Drinking in China: New Research Data"
 
Effect of Religion and Ritual
 
ONO MASATOSHI (National Museum of Japanese History), "Ceramics used for
Japanese Rituals in the 15th Century"
 
ELLEN LAING (University of Washington), "Incense Burners in China"
 
PHUTORN BHUMATHON (Lop Buri Teacher's College, Thailand), "Ceramics of the
Dvaravati Period in Early Thailand"
 
RICHARD PEARSON (University of British Columbia, Vancouver), "Prestige and
Ritual in the Ceremony of the Gusuku Period, 1100 A.D.-1609 A.D., Okinawa"
 
CARLA SINOPOLI (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor), "Ceramic Use and Ritual
Practice in Hindu India: Historic and Archaeological Evidence"
 
CYNTHIA O. VALDES (Oriental Ceramic Society, Philippines), "Ritual and
Culinary Functions of Ceramics Used in the Philippines"
 
Importance of Collecting and Connoisseurship
 
MARGARET CHUNG (Three Friends Studio, Chicago), "Yixing Wares: Collectors and
Connoisseurs of Tea and Ceramics"
 
C.J.A. JORG (Groninger Museum, Netherlands), "Yixing Wares in Europe"
 
STEPHEN LITTLE (The Art Institute of Chicago), "Chinese Collectors of the
15th and 16th Centuries"
 
COLIN SHEAF (Christie, Manson & Woods, Ltd., London), "Trends of Collecting
in the West"
 
CHUIMEI HO & MALCOLM SMITH (The Field Museum, Chicago), "Estate Patronage and
Its Influence on Connoisseurship"
 
RONALD Y. OTSUKA (Denver Art Museum), "Forms and Nonfunctional Functions:
Collecting and Connoisseurship of Contemporary Japanese Ceramics"
 
* * *